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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.Eph 2:9 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Subjecta:John the Baptist Testifies Again About Jesus Bible Verse:John 3:22-30 (ESV) "After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” " Message:
John the Baptist, like Jesus, has a large following of disciples. He was much like a charismatic preacher in today’s world who starts a church. He didn’t have a building with a pulpit and a softball team, but he certainly had a sect of people who considered him their religious leader.
We see something that is a bit amusing. Like every congregation that has ever existed, people start bickering over silly things—in this case the details of ceremonial washing of some sort. Probably, eventually, the people who didn’t like the way ceremonial washing was done would have left and started their own church!
Christian family minimalist
John’s followers then complain that yet another group has started baptizing, this one following Jesus, and that his sect is more popular than theirs. At this point, the pettiness ends. John lets them know that his mission is not to start a religion of which he is the head. He likens himself to a groomsman in a wedding. The bride belongs to the groom, not the groomsman, and when the groom arrives, the groomsmen take a back seat. Not begrudgingly, but with joy.
So it is with John. He has only been awaiting Christ’s arrival, awaiting the time when he can serve him. And now he must become less important, because the true leader has come.
We must remind ourselves of this lesson on a regular basis. The more we like a pastor, or a priest, or a devotional writer, the more important it becomes to realize that all of them are human and given to error. We do not follow them; we follow Christ and Christ alone.
We learn this more pointedly when Christ tells His disciples: “Do not be called Rabbi [or Teacher]; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. (Matthew 23:8-10)”
Meditation : Prayer : Now unto him that is able to keep me from falling, and to present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever........Amen |
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