Can't Keep it to Myself
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He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
In 1914, Pres. Woodrow Wilson signed legislation recognizing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day, following the efforts of Anna Jarvis to recognize the importance of mothers, beginning with her own, in Grafton, WV., starting in 1905.
Major depressionAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)Suicide, among young African American menPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), because African Americans are more likely to be victims of violent crime
Since 1949, the month of May has been observed as Mental Health Month in the United States and many national organizations spotlight Mental Health Month to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and to stop the stigma associated with mental health disorders. Approximately one in five adults in the United States, 43.8 million, or 18.5%, experiences a mental illness in a given year and approximately one in five youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental health disorder at some point during their lifetime. Although anyone can develop a mental health problem, African Americans sometimes experience more severe forms of mental health conditions due to unmet needs and other barriers. According to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population. Studies have shown that individuals who have chronic medical illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure or autoimmune disorders have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder such as depression or anxiety. Common mental health disorders among African Americans include Major depression, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Suicide, among young African American men, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), because African Americans are more likely to be victims of violent crime.
African Americans are also more likely to experience certain factors that increase the risk for developing a mental health condition:
Homelessness. People experiencing homelessness are at a greater risk of developing a mental health condition. African Americans make up 40% of the homeless population.Exposure to violence increases the risk of developing a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. African American children are more likely to be exposed to violence than other children. - NAMI.org
Today, in many communities that where the American Descendants of Slavery live, work, raise families and worship, the church has the task of bridging the gap between needs and resources, of speaking on behalf of the powerless to those in power, and of celebrating our successes and mourning our disappointments. For many, both inside and outside of the Church, it is the “mediator between God and men.” We explain, both to believer and non-believer, the mind of God and the message of God’s grace. Today we continue to study the life of the Church in the light of Christ’s resurrection on this 4th Sunday of Easter.
Reading the post-resurrection texts, it might seem that the passage of time was short, and not much took place, but Luke writes that Jesus was actively teaching them during the entire 40-day period between Easter morning and His ascension:
He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Whatever the disciples thought of Jesus’ words before His crucifixion, in the light of His resurrection, it was clear that He “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” ().
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Jesus didn’t say this to shame and reject them, but to awaken them to repentance.
While it is possible to view this passage as divisive, leading people to “examine their navels” seeking evidence that they are His sheep, this is a Law-use of the passage, and makes Jesus’ words more of a threat than a promise.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
We know from God’s Word that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” that by the measurement of the Law, “there is no one righteous, no, not one.” While The Written Word shows us who we are, the Living Word - Christ - shows us who God is.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Everything that the Scriptures say about God, Jesus is for us. Jesus leads us into the life of the Kingdom of God and protects us from the bondage of sin. He brings us peace, and gives us eternal security.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
What does this mean? The Scriptures declared that there is no God beside the LORD
To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
Jesus calls God His Father and says that They are one.
and Jesus calls Him His Father and says that They are one. The religious authorities viewed that as blasphemy and sought - twice in John - to stone Him. After the resurrection, those who believed in Him worshiped Jesus in ways that Old Testament believers applied only to God. The Christian Church, both East and West, Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic, describe God as being “three distinct Persons in One eternal Being” - the Holy Trinity. This all took place, not because they formed this conclusion on their own, but because He, in the words written by John, “exegeted” or explained God to us ().
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
The religious authorities viewed that as blasphemy and sought - twice in John - to stone Him. After the resurrection, those who believed in Him worshiped Jesus in ways that Old Testament believers applied only to God. The Christian Church, both East and West, Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic, describe God as being “three distinct Persons in One eternal Being” - the Holy Trinity. This all took place, not because they formed this conclusion on their own, but because He, in the words written by John, “exegeted” or explained God to us ().
The religious authorities viewed that as blasphemy and sought - twice in John - to stone Him. After the resurrection, those who believed in Him worshiped Jesus in ways that Old Testament believers applied only to God. The Christian Church, both East and West, Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic, describe God as being “three distinct Persons in One eternal Being” - the Holy Trinity. This all took place, not because they formed this conclusion on their own, but because He, in the words written by John, “exegeted” or explained God to us ().
In a time when scholars debate whether or not Jesus claimed to be divine, His sheep see Him as He has explained Himself to us. We listen to Him based upon His self-revelation, as opposed to others’ explication. The Apostles and Fathers didn’t create the idea that “Jesus is Lord,” they merely passed on what He taught concerning the Kingdom of God, as “those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” ().
So “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” But “How shall they hear?” God’s Word answers that question by pointing us to the ones who have been given the task of proclaiming the message in Romans 10:14
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
Someone must “κηρύσσω” - make an official announcement of the Divine declaration - someone must preach.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
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but God has not given them the responsibility of proclaiming who God is. He has reserved that for the one who was made in His image - Man. We failed in that assignment.
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For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
We got it wrong, so God Himself made things right.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Because the Law was too hard, the commands too many, God simplified it into one:
And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
I cannot make you into one of His sheep. The church cannot make you into one. Your good deeds cannot make you into one. The Word of Christ alone does that. The Jews that did not believe, refused to abide in His Word, and there are many today who follow their example, to their ruin. It is not God’s will that this happen,
Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
People are risking their lives to break into a place not made for them, “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (). Jesus said there is a place prepared for us in His Father’s House, but too many of us act like there is limited space available or like someone might steal our spot if we tell them about it. How many of us look at those around us and say, with St. Paul,
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
By keeping silent, by holding our tongue, by refusing to share the Gospel, we are accomplices to eschatological suicide. There is no “silent witness,” Francis of Assisi's cute phrase notwithstanding.
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
When people think that we are source of the good that we do, or the blessings that they may have received through us- that is stealing God’s glory. We must point them away from us, and straight to Jesus. The pat on the back that you get, for the good that you do, belongs to Jesus, who took a whip on His back that belongs to us. The Lord, who took away our sin and shame - to God be the glory for the things that He has done!
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - can be trusted with your situation, with your future, with your destiny. God has prepared a future for us that is glorious, an inheritance that is reserved in heaven for you:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
That salvation is revealed today - you hear it with your ears. That salvation needs to be made known by those of us who have received it, so that others can share in it as well.
And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
God has saved you, so that you could join Him in the task of restoring His Kingdom by proclaiming it to others.Christ has made us, each and every one, His witness.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.