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Psalm 105:4-11   Seek the Lord  

Let us continually seek the Lord, his presence and his strength. Let us remember all his wonderful works and his wise counsel. We are the spiritual offspring of Abraham, the sons and daughters of Jacob (Israel), his elect.

The Lord is our God. His judgment (authority) is over the entire earth. He is faithful to his covenant with his people forever. His Word will endure for thousands of generations. His covenant made with Abraham, passed on to Isaac and Jacob is an everlasting covenant to Israel (God’s People) to give us the land of Canaan as an eternal inheritance.

I believe that the meaning and purpose of life in this world is to seek and come to know and have fellowship with the Lord (Acts 17:26-27). That personal fellowship with the Lord which Adam had until it was broken by sin is restored through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way to forgiveness of sin, restoration of fellowship with God and eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom in heaven (Acts 4:12; John 14:6, see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17), we have personal fellowship with the Lord. We have his strength empowering us and working through us, and we have his wise counsel to guide us. Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are spiritually “re-born” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life; we become the spiritual offspring of Abraham and inherit God’s promise of eternal inheritance in the Promised Land in God’s kingdom (Galatians 3:5-9). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

God has given us his Word, in the Bible, and in the “living Word” in Jesus Christ, the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word in human flesh (John 1:1-3, 14). The Bible and Jesus’ example testify to the faithfulness of God’s Word. What God promises is fulfilled. We need to know and apply God’s Word in our daily lives, so we will receive God’s promises (Matthew 7:21-27). We need to remember God’s faithfulness to his people throughout the Bible history of Israel. As we apply God’s Word in our daily lives we will come to experience and know personally God’s faithfulness in our lives.

There is a Day of Judgment coming when everyone who has ever lived on earth will be accountable to God, and the standard of judgment will be God’s Word, fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in Jesus Christ. Those who have trusted and obeyed Jesus will receive the inheritance of eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom. Those who have rejected Jesus, who have refused to trust and obey Jesus, will receive eternal condemnation and destruction in Hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

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Genesis 12:1-8       Abraham’s Call

God called Abraham (then known as Abram) to leave his extended family in Haran (25 miles southeast of Urfa, Turkey*) and go to a new land that the Lord would show Abraham). The Lord promised to make Abraham’s descendants a great nation. God promised to bless Abraham and make his name famous, so that Abraham would be a blessing. God promised to bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curse Abraham. All the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham.

Abraham did as the Lord had said. Abraham was seventy-five at the time. He left Haran with his wife Sarah (then known as Sarai) and his nephew Lot, with all their possessions, and with Abraham’s household servants. They went to Canaan and traveled through the land until they came to Shechem (in the middle of Israel, between Mount Ebal, and Mount Gerizim), to the oak of Moreh, a sacred tree there.

At the time, the Canaanites occupied the land. The Lord appeared to Abraham and promised to give the land to Abraham’s descendants, so Abraham built an altar there where the Lord had appeared to Abraham. Then Abraham moved south and camped between Bethel and Ai. There Abraham built an altar and worshipped the Lord.

Abraham was already old when God called him to leave his extended family and go to a strange place. But Abraham believed God’s promise and did what God told him to do.

God has always intended, from the beginning of Creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey God. In order for us to have the freedom to choose whether or not to trust and obey God, he created this world with the possibility of sin (disobedience of God’s Word). But he put a time-limit on this Creation, and our lifetimes, and he designed Creation with a plan for our forgiveness and salvation from eternal condemnation built in. That provision of a Savior is Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, 14; Matthew 1:21).

When Abraham trusted and obeyed God’s call to go to a new land and establish a new nation and people, God’s plan began to be fulfilled through that one man’s obedience. Abraham didn’t know the land that God was going to show him (Hebrews 11:8).

In order to be the head of a great nation, Abraham and Sarah needed a son, through whom God’s promise would be fulfilled. But Abraham and Sarah were beyond the age of conception. Nevertheless, after a long wait and unlikely circumstances Isaac, the son of the promise, was born (Genesis 21:1-2). 

God was revealing his eternal purpose. Isaac became the forerunner of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, God’s “anointed” Savior and eternal king (Christ and Messiah each mean “anointed” in Greek and Hebrew respectively).

God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the son of the promise, and Abraham went to do what God had commanded (see Hebrews. 11:17-19). Isaac was spared at the last moment, and a substitute which God provided was offered as a sacrifice instead (Genesis 22:1-14).

The intended sacrifice of Isaac was an illustration, a preview, of what God intended to do for us from the very beginning of Creation. Jesus is the Son of God’s promise of a Savior to be offered as a sacrifice for our sins, and he is the substitution provided by God so that we would not die eternally for them ourselves. Jesus is the Son through whom the whole world is blessed, through whom we become the great eternal nation of God’s people, and inherit the Promised Land of God’s heavenly kingdom.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

*Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, David Noel Freedman, ”Haran,” p.551, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids Michigan, 2000, ISBN 0-8020-2400-5

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Romans 4:1-5, 13-17       Justified by Faith

Abraham is the forefather of the Jews through the flesh. If Abraham were judged righteous in God’s judgment he would have reason to boast (before men) but not before God. According to Genesis 15:6, Abraham’s righteousness was reckoned to him because he believed God. If righteousness were earned by works (keeping) of the law, righteousness would not be a gift, but payment for work done. One who doesn’t rely on works of the law but trusts in the Lord who justifies the ungodly is reckoned righteous by faith (obedient trust).

“The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13). If only those who keep the law inherit the promise, then faith would be useless and the promise void. The law brings punishment, but transgression is not counted where there is no law.

“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise  may rest on grace (a free gift; unmerited favor) and be guaranteed to all his descendants – not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he his the father of us all” (Romans 4:16). God, in whom Abraham believed, who gives life to the dead and creates things from nothing by his Word, has declared in scripture that he would make Abraham the father of many nations (Genesis 17:5).

Abraham is the forefather of Jews by the flesh, but the spiritual forefather of all believers through faith. Abraham did not become our forefather by keeping God’s law, but by faith (obedient trust) in God’s Word. Abraham’s righteousness (doing right in God’s judgment) was attributed to him by his faith in God, so he cannot boast in himself before God; his righteousness is a gift, not his own accomplishment (Ephesians 2:8-9). One would be entitled to a judgment of righteousness if righteousness was “earned” by keeping the law, but God justifies (judges as righteous) sinners who trust and obey his Word (see Galatians 2:16).

The law brings condemnation. Violating any part of the law brings judgment (James 2:10), and the penalty for sin (disobedience of God’s Word) is eternal death (Romans 6:23). We have all sinned and come short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). But where there is no law transgressions are not counted. If we want to be saved from God’s eternal condemnation and inherit God’s promise through Abraham we must receive it through faith in God’s Word, fulfilled, embodied, and exemplified in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, 14; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

Saving faith is obedient trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s only provision for our forgiveness and salvation from eternal destruction, and restoration to eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). We are freed from the condemnation of the law, provided that we are obedient to the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-9) which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34) only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).

There is a Day of Judgment coming when Jesus will return to judge everyone who has ever lived on earth. Those who have trusted and obeyed Jesus, who have been spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) will receive eternal life in God’s kingdom in heaven, but those who have rejected and refused to trust and obey Jesus will receive eternal condemnation in Hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

1 Lent - Thursday

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John 4:5-26 (27-30, 39-42)     Living Water

Jesus and his disciples were returning from Judea to Galilee through Samaria, and at noon, they came to Jacob’s Well at Sychar (or “Shechem;” Genesis 33:18-19). Jesus was tired from his journey and sat down at the well, while the disciples went into the city to buy food.

A Samaritan woman came to get water and Jesus asked her for a drink. The woman was surprised that a Jew would speak to a Samaritan woman (Samaritans were of mixed Jewish race and religion). Jesus told her that if she knew who she was speaking with, she would ask and he would give her “living water.”

The woman noted that Jesus hadn’t anything with which to draw water, and the well was deep. She asked where Jesus got “living water.” She asked Jesus if he were greater than Jacob, who had dug and used the well, who the Samaritans considered their patriarch, as did the Jews.

Jesus said that water from Jacob’s well satisfies (physical) thirst only temporarily, but the living water that Jesus gives satisfies (spiritual) thirst for eternity. The living water Jesus gives is a spring (not a deep, hard-to-reach well) which bubbles up to eternal life. The woman asked Jesus to give her living water so she would not thirst or draw from the well.

Jesus told her to fetch her husband, and the woman said she had no husband. Jesus revealed that he knew that she had been married five times and was now living with a man whom she had not married. The woman realized and acknowledged that Jesus must be a prophet, and asked him to settle a religious controversy between Jews and Samaritans.

She said that her ancestors had worshipped on Mount Gerizim nearby, But Jews said that Jerusalem was the only proper place of worship. Jesus said the time was coming when people would not worship in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim. Samaritans were worshiping what they didn’t know, but salvation was through the Jews, who knew God.

Jesus told her that the time was coming when those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth, which is what God desires. “God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). The woman expressed her faith that the Messiah (Christ; both words mean “anointed” in Hebrew and Greek; i.e. God’s “anointed” Savior and eternal King) was coming, and that when he came he would reveal all things. Jesus responded that she was speaking to the Messiah.

Jesus could have avoided going through Samaria, but chose to do so (John 4:4). He foreknew all about the woman, had come specifically to talk to her, and arrived at the perfect time.

When Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel (of the ten tribes), they deported the Jews to other conquered lands of their empire and repopulated the land with aliens. Samaritans were a result of the remnant of the ten tribes who had avoided deportation and had intermarried with the aliens. They were racially and religiously mixed.

Jesus opened the conversation by asking for a drink of water. At first the woman regarded him as a Jew, who didn’t have any dealings with Samaritans. When Jesus responded with an invitation instead of a rebuke, she addressed him as “Sir.”

Jesus offered her “living water” contrasted with physical well water. Physical water was deep in the well, and required equipment and effort to draw and carry, and continually needed to be re-drawn. Physical water cannot eternally satisfy, and does not give eternal life.

Jacob had dug the physical well and left it for his descendants, but only Jesus can provide the “living water.” Living water satisfies spiritual thirst eternally, and gives eternal life. We don’t have to fetch it; it is within “born-again” Christian disciples, and it is a spring flowing up within us and out into the world around us. The woman asked Jesus to give her that living water, and he told her to go and fetch her husband.

The woman confessed that she had no husband, and Jesus revealed that he knew all about her and her marital status. The woman realized and acknowledged that Jesus must be a prophet, to have known about her, so she asked Jesus to settle a dispute between Jews and Samaritans over where to worship.

Jesus told her that it is not where to worship which is important, but how. Jews had the scriptures and the covenant relationship with God, through whom God sent the Messiah. The Samaritans claimed the same ancestors and same religion, but that claim was imperfect; it was tradition; it was ritual and not relationship. Jesus told her that from then on, true worshipers of God must worship in spirit and truth.

God is Spirit and divine truth. In order to truly worship God we must worship in the same Spirit and truth. Jesus is the Son of God, who shares God’s Spirit (Colossians 2:8-9; John 1:32; 20:28) and his words are God’s Word (John 14:10, 24). Jesus is the Word of God, fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated in human flesh (John 1:1-3, 14).

The woman heard Jesus’ words and had a growing understanding of who he was (John 4:9, 11, 19). She believed in Jesus’ claim to give “living water” and asked for it for herself (John 4:15). She confessed her sinful condition (John 4:17). She declared her belief in the Biblical promise of the coming Messiah (John 4:25), and Jesus revealed himself to her (John 4:26; compare John 14:21). She obeyed Jesus’ command (John 4:16) to bring her “husband” (John 4:28).

The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit is the “living water” to which Jesus referred (John 7:38-39). Only Jesus gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).

Jesus is the fulfillment of scripture. He is the fulfillment of the symbol of water from the rock in the wilderness (Numbers 20:2-11; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4). Jesus is the fulfillment of the signs of the Messianic age (Isaiah 12:3; 44:3; 55:1).

Jesus promised his disciples that they would receive the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17, 21, 23), that they were to wait for that outpouring (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5, 8; Acts 2:1-13), and then fulfill the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:19-20). The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples on the Day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.

The true Church is composed of the “born-again” disciples who are Apostles (messengers; of the Gospel) of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul is the prototype and example of a “modern,” “post-resurrection”, “born-again” disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-21).The indwelling Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of Joel 2:28-29 (compare Acts 2:14-18).

True worship is only possible by “born-again” disciples who trust and obey Jesus, and have been filled with his indwelling Holy Spirit. They have experienced and know the divine truth of the Gospel personally, through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by his indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only way, the divine truth, and only giver of true eternal life (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). When we worship God, the indwelling Holy Spirit prompts ecstatic praise (Galatians 4:6) and enables us to call God our father in worship and truth, bearing witness that we are God’s children,  (Romans 8:14-16).

People who claim to be Christian, without being obedient disciples of Jesus Christ, cannot not worship in spirit or truth. Their “worship” is merely tradition and ritual.

Isaiah 45:20-25      Pray to the True God

The Lord calls the survivors of nations (of Cyrus’ conquest). The Gentiles who worship and serve idols which don’t have even power to transport themselves, but must be carried by their believers, lack knowledge. They keep praying to idols which cannot save. God has declared from ancient times that he alone is God; he alone is righteous, and there is no other Savior besides the Lord.

The Lord calls all people, even from the farthest places on earth, to turn to the Lord and be saved. The Lord is the only God. The Lord has promised in righteousness; his Word has gone forth and will not return. The Lord declares that every knee will bow and every tongue confess to him.

Righteousness and strength are only in the Lord; those who have been rebellious against the Lord will come before him and be ashamed. “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel (Jacob; the descendants of Abraham; Romans 4:16-17a RSV; see entries for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week) shall triumph and glory” (Isaiah 45:25).

The Lord had commissioned Cyrus of Persia (Isaiah 45:1) to overthrow the Babylonian empire, which made it possible for the remnant of Judah to return to the Promised Land from Babylonian exile (Ezra 1:1-3).

The Lord God is the only true God, our Creator; all other “gods” are idols, the creation of human hands and imaginations (modern examples of “gods” are money, possessions, fame, success, power, family, or career; anything one values as much or more than God). They can do nothing for their believers; they cannot even transport themselves but instead become a burden to their worshipers. Only by lack of knowledge would one believe in, serve and pray to an idol.

God has made himself known from ancient times. He is the only Savior. He has created this world with his eternal salvation designed into Creation (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus Christ is God’s one and only provision for our salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). God alone is righteous (doing what is right and good) in all his ways. God has given us his Word in the Bible, and in Jesus Christ, who is the “living” Word; God’s Word fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated in this world in human flesh John 1:14).

God’s Word declares that every knee of everyone who has ever lived in this world will bow and every tongue will confess to God (Romans 14:11) “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

God alone is righteous and all-powerful, and we can have the benefit if we call upon him in faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14; see Conditions for Answered Prayer). If we want God to hear and answer our prayers, we must be willing to hear and obey his Word, fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is God’s only (begotten) Son (John 1:18; 3:16, 18), his promised Savior (Matthew 1:21) and eternal King, the Messiah (Christ; both mean “anointed” in Hebrew and Greek respectively), Emmanuel (God with us; Matthew 1:23). Faith in Jesus is the only way to know divine truth, the only way to forgiveness and salvation from eternal destruction, to have fellowship with God, and to receive eternal life (John 14:6).

There is a Day of Judgment coming, for everyone who has ever lived on this earth, when every knee will bow to the Lord and everyone will confess that Jesus is Lord and glorify God. Those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord now, who have trusted and obeyed Jesus, have received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34) only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17), will receive eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom. But those who have rejected Jesus as Lord now, who have refused to trust and obey Jesus, will receive eternal condemnation to eternal destruction in Hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).

In that Day the Saints (those who are sanctified by the indwelling Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus), the spiritual descendents of Abraham (Romans 4:16), will experience triumph and glory, but the unregenerate (not spiritually “reborn;” John 3:3, 5-8) will be eternally ashamed and sorry.

God’s Plan of Salvation (which see, sidebar, top right) is available to all who will receive it through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ. All have an opportunity to know the Gospel truth. All we have to do to receive God’s forgiveness and eternal salvation is to pray to God in Jesus’ name, confessing our sins (disobedience of God’s Word) in repentance, and asking Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.

Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

1 Lent - Saturday

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James 5:13-20       Effective Prayer

Mark 9:17-29       Faith and Prayer

When suffering, Christians should pray. When joyful, they should sing praise. When sick they should ask the elders of the church to pray with them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer made in faith on behalf of the sick will raise them up, and if one has sinned, bring forgiveness. So members of the congregation should confess their sins to one another and pray for one another for their healing.

“The prayer of a righteous [person] has great power in its effects” (James 5:16). For example, remember that Elijah was righteous (did what was right and good, according to God’s Word) and had a personal relationship with the Lord. He prayed for drought, and the Lord withheld rain for three and a half years. Then Elijah prayed for rain and the Lord gave rain, and the earth became fruitful again.

If anyone in the congregation strays from the truth (God’s Word), and a fellow member brings him back, whoever restores that member from error will save his own soul and will be forgiven a multitude of sins.

Jesus, Peter, James, and John were returning from Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain (Mark 9:2-9). The other disciples who remained behind were surrounded by a crowd, arguing with some scribes (teachers of the law; i.e. scripture). Jesus asked what they were discussing and a man in the crowd told Jesus that he had brought his son to Jesus for healing, because the son had a mute evil spirit. The boy would often have convulsions. The father had asked Jesus’ disciples to heal the boy but they were unable.

Jesus expressed exasperation at the faithlessness of people, and told the father to bring the boy to him. As soon as the boy came near, he went into convulsions. Jesus asked the father how long the boy had had this condition and the father replied that the boy had been that way since childhood, and that the convulsions endangered his life when they occurred near water or an open fire. The man said that “if Jesus could” do anything, to have pity and help them.

Jesus replied that it was not a question of whether Jesus could, but rather if the man could. Anything is possible to one who believes. The man declared that he did believe, and asked Jesus to help him overcome unbelief.

As a large crowd was gathering, Jesus commanded the evil spirit to come out of the boy and never return. At once, the spirit cried out, and with a great convulsion, left the boy. The boy appeared to be dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him and the boy got up.

When Jesus and his disciples were alone they asked him why they had been unable to heal the boy. Jesus told them that this type of healing could only be accomplished by (believing) prayer.

James is giving practical advice for believers. When we’re happy we should remember to thank and praise the Lord. When we are suffering we need to pray to the Lord and he will comfort and sustain us. When we are sick we should remember to seek spiritual healing from the Lord through the Church. Olive oil was used as a medicinal remedy, and also as a symbol of God’s blessing. When done in the name of Jesus with believing prayer, the power of the Lord is invoked for healing and forgiveness of sin. The power isn’t in the oil, or the ritual, or the officiant (elder), but in the Lord who responds to obedient trust in his Word.

The Church is to be a body of “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples who trust and obey God’s Word, fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated in Jesus Christ. The members are to be concerned with the spiritual health of their fellow members. If a member is straying from the Gospel truth, the scriptural (recorded in the Bible) apostolic (received directly from Jesus and taught by the apostles, including Paul) Gospel, the members of the congregation have a responsibility to restore the member to true faith.

Elijah is an example of effective believing prayer. He was righteous in God’s judgment, and had a personal relationship with the Lord. In his time, only a very few individuals had that relationship, Jesus came to give us his righteousness and his Holy Spirit, so that we can have that kind of personal relationship with the Lord.

Elijah prayed for drought at the Lord’s guidance and according to God’s will (1 Kings 17:1-9; 18:1). There are conditions for answered prayer (which see sidebar, top right). The Lord does not listen and respond to the prayers of people who do not listen and respond with obedient trust to God’s Word, fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in Jesus Christ.

While Jesus and the three disciples closest to Jesus were away on the mountain of transfiguration, the other disciples were unable to heal the boy of the convulsive disorder. For one thing they had not been specifically commissioned to do that on their own yet (see Mark 6:7-13). They were still in training and had not yet received the indwelling Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8; Acts 2:1-13).

They had probably been told to wait for Jesus’ return. The man with the sick boy had intended to bring him to Jesus, but the disciples were attempting to heal him in their own human strength and authority, rather than asking the Lord in prayer. A rivalry over (human) authority had developed into an argument between the disciples and some scribes (Mark 9:14).

The father of the boy also could have waited for Jesus, but was willing to turn elsewhere for more immediate results. The father barely had enough faith in Jesus to have his son healed. When he expressed a (tiny “mustard-seed” faith) and asked Jesus to increase it, Jesus did. The man, who hadn’t been sure Jesus could do what the man asked, experienced Jesus’ power and faithfulness personally.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he gave his disciples authority to carry on his ministry of forgiveness, healing and salvation (Matthew 28:18-20). Their specific duty was to make (“born-again”) disciples of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19a RSV) and teach them to obey all that Jesus taught (Matthew 28:20), but only after they had been “born-again” by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8).

While the disciples were awaiting the promised Holy Spirit, they again decided to act on their own and appoint a replacement for the 12^th disciple, Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus. They selected Matthias by “lot” (by “chance;” like drawing straws; since they had not yet received the Holy Spirit). Matthias is never mentioned again in the New Testament (Acts 1:15-26). The promised Holy Spirit began to be given to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13), and from then on they were guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Instead of Matthias, the Lord chose Paul to be Judas’ replacement. Paul became the prototype and illustration of a “modern,” “post-resurrection,” “born-again” disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-23). Paul was discipled unto spiritual “re-birth” by a “born-again” disciple, Ananias (Acts 9:10-18). Most of the rest of the New Testament is by or about Paul.

How are we doing, Church? Are we willing to be disciples of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26)? Are we becoming “born-again” through obedient trust in Jesus’ teachings? Are we making “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them obedient trust in Jesus’ teachings, or are we merely members making members? Are we building and strengthening God’s eternal kingdom or are we merely building buildings? Do we expect the Lord to answer our prayers without our obedient trust in his Word? Are we willing to wait for Jesus or do we turn to anyone who might be available?

Only Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). It is possible to know with certainty for oneself, whether one has received the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2).