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Welcome
“The ballerina danced perfectly in time with the music. Likewise, we have to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, His guidance, His directions, His promptings, and thereby we will bear fruit.”
Stella
Worship
Word
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matt. 4:4
Jesus had been led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit with the sole purpose of being tested by the devil, (see Matt. 4:1). These words in Matt. 4:4 that Jesus speaks to the devil, are taken from Deuteronomy 8:2, 3 in circumstances in which Israel was led into the wilderness to be tested.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His command.
Deut 8:2
This exchange was taking place, in which all those things that Israel relied on to live were taken away from them, and then miraculously supplied by God. So take food for example, here they are in a desert for forty years, where do they get food from?
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Deut 8:3
They were really hungry, and then the Lord provided them with daily manna. They started to shift dependence on themselves, over to depending on the Lord. This was the life Jesus modelled, complete dependence on His Father in heaven.
My will is to do the will of Him who sent me.
John 6:38
This is what He wants of us also, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This, I believe, is why Jesus never healed two people in the same way. He was continually attentive to what the Father was saying, to every word that was proceeding from the mouth of God. So, for example, He healed the blind man by spitting on the ground, making some mud with the saliva and putting this on the blind man’s eyes, then telling him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (John 9:6-7). But He never did this again, rather in Mark 8:22-25, He spit on the blind man’s eyes, then put His hands on them. The man’s sight was partially restored, so Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes once more and His sight was fully restored. In Matthew 9:29 He touched the eyes of the two blind men and they were healed.
Moses was forbidden by God from entering the promised land because He had not honoured God, or trusted God enough to speak to the rock so that water gushed out of it. In Exodus 17:6 Moses was told by God to strike the rock and water would come out of it so that the people might drink it. But in Numbers 20:8 the Lord told him to speak to the rock. Moses instead resorted to the old method and struck the rock:
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
Numbers 20:12
Wow! This is the standard of living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God … so help us Lord, in Jesus Christ, Amen!
Quote of the week
“The Word is the face, the countenance, the representation of God, in whom He is brought to light and made known.”
Clement of Alexandria
Verse of the week
… a word spoken in due season, how good it is!
Proverbs 15:23
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, speak to us through Your Word and give us more of Your Spirit to enable us to put it into practice and bear much fruit, in Jesus Christ, Amen.