Posts with the tag “authority-obedience-and-the-glory-of-god”

Reading: John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9-13 The authority behind Jesus' teaching in John 7 is rooted in who he actually is: not a wise teacher, not a spiritual guide, but God himself in human form. This is what makes his words carry weight that no other words in human history carry. And it is what makes his offer of salvation unlike anything else ever extended to mankind. He does not point to a ...  Read More

Reading: Proverbs 2:1-11; Acts 17:10-12The crowd in John 7 asked the wrong question. Rather than asking whether Jesus' teaching was true, they asked how he had become learned without formal education. This is a deeply human instinct: to evaluate the messenger rather than wrestle with the message. The Bereans in Acts 17 model the better way, receiving the word eagerly and then searching the Scriptu...  Read More

Reading: John 5:41-44; Matthew 6:1-6 Jesus drew a sharp and revealing line in John 7:18: the one who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true. This test of motivation cuts far deeper than ministry platforms and pulpits. It reaches into every act of service, every conversation about faith, every moment of generosity. It is entirely pos...  Read More

Reading: Romans 7:15-25; James 1:22-25 Jesus declared in John 7:17 that the one who is willing to do God's will shall know whether the teaching is from God. This reveals something sobering: the primary barrier to spiritual understanding is not intellectual, it is moral. We do not struggle to grasp forgiveness because we cannot define it. We struggle because we do not want to extend it. We do not s...  Read More