Friday Matthew 26: 47-27:26; Mark 14:43-15:15; Luke 22:47-23:25; John 18:2-19:16 Jesus is betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Talk about high adrenaline rush. Do you ever wonder it this was all fast motion or slow motion like the movies. Have you ever went through a crisis and every thing seems to move in a fast motion yet in a slow surreal motion? I mean a friend betrays you with a kiss, another friend cuts off a soldiers ear, and at that moment Jesus performs a miracle and heals the ear. Then all your friends (disciples) run away and fled. Wow! How alone could one feel. But Jesus probably already knew all this…
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Passion Week: Devotions – Jesus Teaches
Matthew 21: 28-24:51; Mark 11:27-13:37; Luke 20:1- 21:36 Part 3: The Great Commission: This here is a mighty, mighty lesson. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul. God has to be our full focus. He must have all of our love. Then we are to love all people. The mean, the wicked, the people who hurt you, Love all people. When we love God completely and love others unselfishly, then all of our attitudes and actions…
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Passion Week Devotions: The Authority Of Jesus
Tuesday: Matthew 21:23-27, Mark 11:27-33, Luke 20:1-8 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “by what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come?” From heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘from heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then did you not believe him?’…
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Passion Week Devotions: Jesus Clears the Temple
Monday And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money – changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21: 12-13 Mark 11: 15-18, Luke 19: 45-48 The temple had become a modern-day vendor or farmers market. However, the people set up shop in the temple. To Jesus this was an ungodly activity to do in the temple. He went in and cleansed it. This kind of activity in the…
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Passion Week: Devotions Fig Tree
Monday: Event #1 – Jesus Curses the Fig Tree Matthew 21:18-19 and (Mark 11:12-14 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. This section is symbolic verses. In research, fig trees in Jerusalem at this time of year I this passage were usually not in full mature leaves. However, this tree was. When the leaves are fully mature, there should be evidence of fruit.…
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Passion Week – Devotions: Day 3 The Triumphal Entry
Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19 Sunday – Palm Sunday. Mark 11:9-10 – And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our Father David! Hosanna in the highest! I have listed next to the picture passages of the Triumphal Entry. Please take the time and read each one. See if you can see what is similar and different. Hosanna, means “save”, the people had a different idea about what salvation meant then what Jesus meant. The people thought that the Messiah would be a social activist and a…
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Passover Week Devotions: Sabbath
. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord you’re God. On it you shall not do any work, you , or your son, or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11 Day 2: Sabbath Day of Rest This is not mentioned in the gospels.…
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Jesus Washes Disciples Feet
rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand now.” Peter said to him, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” John 13:4-17 Washing one’s feet, to some is a disgusting…
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Take Up Your Cross
. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, Let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Mark 8:34 In the book of Mark, the audience was the Romans. In Rome death on the cross was a form of execution used on dangerous criminals. The prisoner carried his own cross, to the place of execution. This signified submission to Rome’s power. Jesus used this to illustrate the greatest submission required of his followers. Jesus is talking about the great effort needed to follow him moment to moment, day-to-day. Following Jesus is hard, not…
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Forgiveness Of Sins
for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:28 We have all sinned, therefore forgiveness is necessary. Our sin is a rebellion against God. He is offended by our sin. We have broken his law. We have ignored His standards and gone our own way. Sin has destroyed man’s relationship with God. God is completely pure, perfect, complete and separate from evil. God is completely holy. God can not associate with evil, sin, wrong-doing, and rebellion. God’s judgement which is perfect requires that our sin be judged. Sin is so opposed to God that it needs an maximum penalty.…