"The Right Stuff"

 "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." (John 3:27 KJV) 

  "So also Christ glorified not himself to be made high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee." (Hebrews 5:5 KJV) 

  Believe it or not, but when God sets something into motion, you better believe that He will see to it that it does what He had intended it to do. We can sometimes loose sight on that, given the amount of time it takes for God to make things all fall into place. Moses was delivered unto the Egyptians as a little baby, only to deliver Israel from the Egypt 80 years later. 

  This was God's plan all along, as He foretold it to Abraham, when He had made Abraham aware of situation his offspring would be in, and then showed Abraham how they would be delivered. (Genesis 15:13-14) It really takes some doing to do what God can do, because God gets things done! He's always working, even when we don't think He's working, He never stops working! 

  That is the message we must get from what John is going to explain, as we are not the doer's in this story, we are simply the vessels used by Him that does! What John did not do, was bend to the level by which his disciples were coming at him with; which is to question the authority and the position of Jesus, since it was John who baptized Him. 

  Matthew Henry puts his integrity in this light: "His disciples expected that he would have resented this matter as they did; but Christ's manifestation to Israel was no surprise to John, but what he looked for; it was not disturbance to him, but what he wished for. He therefore checked to complaint, as Moses, Enviest thou for my sake? and took this occasion to confirm the testimonies he had formerly borne to Christ as superior to him, cheerfully consigning and turning over to him all the interest he had in Israel. In this discourse here, the first minister of the gospel (for so John was) is an excellent pattern to all ministers to humble themselves and to exalt the Lord Jesus." 

 I had the opportunity yesterday to here a little message that confirmed something I felt was true, but is hard to prove or make sense of, considering the opposition that is presented to it being the case. It was something Pastor Richard said about a fellow Pastor friend of his that was struggling with playing around, that God took him out! He mentioned that he expected to see him in heaven, but God took him home due to his infidelity. 

  Much like what I had mentioned before regarding Ananias and Sapphira his wife; that I expected to see them in heaven, because God used them as a testimony to the consequences of lying to God. It is pretty much a promise, if you will: God's judgment starts in His house! Not quite sure yet how that is connected to this story, except that it is all part of God's work, that which He keeps on working...

""Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father', for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. And don't let anyone call you 'Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."" (Matthew 23:8-12 NLT)