Judas was filled with remorse when he realized what he had done, but the wheels had been put into place and Jesus was sentences to death. So he tried to give back the money (that didn’t work) and he hung himself.

In John 13 the gospel says:

¹⁹“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. ²⁰I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

²¹After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”

²²His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. ²³One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. ²⁴Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”

²⁵Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. ²⁷As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

Jesus Calls Satan the Father of Lies

John 8:43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Don’t be pulled into the lies that Satan wants you to believe.

Colossians 2:8 ⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

God Will Not Give You Anything That You Can’t Handle

1 Corinthians 10:13

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

1 John 5:1-12

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ²This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three that testify: ⁸the^[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. ⁹We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. ¹⁰Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (NIV)

God came down to earth as a child. God has shown himself to us throug his son, and his word. It is our responsibility to tell the world.

The story of the baby Jesus, is in our hands.

In this final part of the love and respect series, Minister in Training Dave Jackson talks about the “Reward Cycle” and that even when our spouse treats us poorly, we can respond with love and respect out of love and respect for Christ.

^“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

Why does God feel it necessary to remind men to love their wives and women to respect their husbands? Because we are Different. God made us man and woman. We see things differently. Not wrong. Just Different.

Check your perspective: What do you see?

GODISNOWHERE

An athesis may see “God is Nowhere” while a Christian may see “God is Now Here.” Not wrong.  Just Different.

So many times Christ carries us great distances. He sets us down only to hear us go, “I did it! I made it.”

Luke 17: 11-19

“11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a]met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

17Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”"

When we think of Moses, many of us have a mental picture of Moses with the 10 commandments, or the movie with his arms out parting the red sea.

The thing is Moses wasn’t always this confident leader. In fact, Moses was a murderer.  He was slow of speech, and really argued with God when God chose him to lead his people out of Egypt.  God didn’t call him because he had awesome presentation skills, was dynamic and was loved by his people. It was quite the opposite. However, we need to keep in mind

GOD DOESN’T CALL THE EQUIPPED – HE EQUIPS THE CALLED

Take some time and look at your life and where you are right now, and look at how you got to where you are. When I did this exercise, I was amazed at all the things that happened to me, and to people in my life. I didn’t always give credit to God when they happened, but looking back I can see how my entire life God has been putting me into positions, bringing people into my life, etc that lead me to where I am today. God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.

Scripture: Exodus 3:7 – chapter 4.

The quesiton is this, “Is God leaving you messages that you are missing? Will you see the handwriting on the wall?”

So many times the kingdom of heaven is right in front of us, and yet we don’t see it.  You can if you are looking for it. Much like when you purchase a new car (and then you see everyone who has the same model), the kingdom heaven is right in front of you. If we don’t watch out for it we will miss it.

Scripture: Matthew 20: 1-16