They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28-29)
Read: Psalms 22 – 26
Relate: What was God’s greatest miracle? To put it another way, when was God at His greatest? There are so many great and awesome miracles to chose from, which one resonates the most with you? Some might say it was at Creation. Think of the size and immensity of the stars. Trillions upon trillions of these huge balls of light were spread out over light years adding up to numbers and moving at speeds that the mind cannot comprehend. All of this was spoken with a word. Tens of thousands of species of animals, birds, fish, and insects, diversity and creativity and beauty beyond compare. It was all created out of nothing from a few simple words. There are many who would say that this was when God was at His greatest and I would be hard pressed to argue against them.
Others might look to specific miracles he performed at one point or another in the Bible’s history. Maybe it was the ten plagues that devastated the greatest nation of that time. Perhaps it was the parting of the Red Sea and then allowing those waters to fall back again destroying Pharaoh’s army. I love watching the Prince of Egypt version of that event just as much as the generation before me watched Charlton Heston’s version. My brother enjoys reading of the Assyrian army camped at the doors of Jerusalem. They arive and give a message mocking Hezekiah, his city and his God. Isaiah prophesies back a message that basically boils down to… “God will not be mocked.” That night an angel moves through the Assyrian camp and when they wake in the morning, 185,000 soldiers are dead. That same message is the theme of one of my cousin’s favorite stories. There’s this giant named Goliath. Every morning the Israelite and Philistine armies would face off, then this giant would come forward bringing challenge. The Israelite army would then run in fear while Goliath stood there and mocked them and their God. One day a teenage shepherd boy named David happened to hear this and grew indignant. He asks: “Who is this Philistine dog that dares to defy the armies of the living God?” One slingshot battle later, that Philistine giant is headless and Israel has a new champion.
What is your favorite miracle? When was God at his greatest? Some would say that time hasn’t come yet. Maybe His greatest will come at the end of time: the seven bowls and the seven trumpets. Maybe it will be when Jesus rides on a white horse with His Name, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” tattooed on his thigh. When He comes He will bring judgment and vindication. This old world will be destroyed and a new one will come. I know that I know that some amazing things are ahead, but until they happen we do not know just how they will happen, so for me, I’ll pass on that. I can’t wait to see it but I think greater things have already happened.
React: Many would agree with me and say God was at His greatest through the incarnation. The best way to describe that amazing and wonderful event for me is actually found in quoting Aladdin. “THE INFINITE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE!!! In an itty bitty living space.” How could God become a man? To know the fact is one thing but to understand it? Some would say this was the greatest but for me it runs a close third. Third? Do I really think one of His miracles was greater? Perhaps the feedings of the four and five thousand? Was it when He raised Lazarus from the dead? Was it the water turning to wine? No, all these things are wonderful as is the healing of the blind, the lame, and the lepers. Casting out demons displayed His power as well, but there are greater things than that.
Maybe you would say it was the death of Christ. At that time He took upon Himself the sins of the world. God allowed Himself to be murdered and tortured. He willingly remained on that cross even when those sins He bore forced a separation between the Father and the Son. The love and humility displayed there is beyond comprehension. Maybe it was on the third day when He rose up from the grave. All the powers of hell, death, and the grave could not contain Him. There have been others who have come back from death, but only Jesus is so powerful He could raise Himself. In this He proved that nothing is greater. No power could contain Him. He is the Victor!
But I would only put the events of this weekend as second. For me, there was one moment in time when God was even greater.
You see, about thirty-three years ago I was a young child sitting in a Sunday school classroom at Greece Assembly of God. The teacher was talking about one of these great moments where God displayed His awesomeness and power. Or perhaps it was one of the many, many other great things God has done that I didn’t get a chance to mention here. Then that Sunday School teacher asked a simple question. Would we like to invite Jesus to come live in us. I said yes. She had us bow our heads and I said a simple prayer that went something like this, “God, I know that I am a sinner. I have done things that have made You sad and for that I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know that You died on the cross to take my sins away. Please take them. I invite You to come live in my life. I surrender my life to You. Thank You for forgiving me. Amen.” At that moment, when I made that prayer real in my life, the great God of the universe came and took up residence in me. To me, that was when God was at His greatest. What about You?
Respond:
God, I know that I am a sinner. I have done things that have made You sad and for that I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know that You died on the cross to take my sins away. Please take them. I invite You to come live in my life. I surrender my life to You. Thank You for forgiving me. Amen.
Revealing Himself to me in such a way that I surrendered, without question, was His greatest moment!
Mark 10
The Rich Young Man
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
why Jesus Is saying to the young rich man there is no good except God Alone. If Jesus was a God he wouldnot have prompt him and would not have use the word Alone instead he should have said Trinity,when he call him teacher he didnt prompt him or corrected him n said call me God why r u calling me teacher.
Jesus didn’t tell the rich young ruler not to call Him “good”. He simply asked if that young man knew exactly what he was saying. Jesus did not deny that claim of goodness. In truth, Jesus is good as only God can be. In the same way, Jesus did not need to deny the claim of teacher. He was. God is. Moses and David both asked of God, “Teach me Your ways.” Jesus is the ultimate answer to their prayer and all those who long to know more of God. Jesus said to His disciples, “I and my Father are one” and again in another place: “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father and know Him.” The greatest way we can get to know God the Father is to look to Jesus.
well what does that mean ” There is no God expect God Alone ” word alone here speaks it all no trinity . No nothing. You people know english better than me .and if Jesus was the God ,then Why did he pray in temple,Why he prayed to God, Why he went to temple with his disciples and prayed to God,instead he should have said Pray me im the God. The Birth of Jesus was just like the Birth of 1st Human Prophet Adam. God said be and it was Done. If Jesus was to Die on the cross for the Sins of the People, then Jesus would have simply said to the young rich man, Dont worry you will join me because im going to die on the cross for ur sins and you also believe in me, but instead Jesus said to him , Spent money on poor people, do charity,when he refused he said i found entering of the rich man into the heavens as difficult as passing of the camel through the needle. If Jesus was God, when the People have asked him when is the Day of Judgement he shouldnot have said i dont know,knowledge is only with the God. and at john somehwere he says ” God is greater than i ” God cant have a father. Because God cannot be Born canot be dead. He is enternal and always Living.
There is much I could, and would like to, reply to this but I am answering from my phone with limited time. Please read this post and perhaps when I return home this evening I can give a more personalized answer. http://tworiversblog.com/2014/01/22/2084/
Read it. Jesus was the Best man ever Lived on Earth no Doubt. Quran says Beautiful Words for Jesus and His Mother Mary (Mariyam) and writes a Whole seperate CHapter on her as Surah Mariyam . And says Mary is the most piety Women of all time. Jesus Gave Healings,He brought back dead to live,He healed Leaper,blinds and many more. But he Sleep,He eat, and he went to toilet, God is Free of all those,A God can never feel hungry,Can never be Bleed,Can never taste death. and can never be given birth. i will talk more once you reply me of my previous Comment.
I could care less what the Quran says about Jesus and Mary. The Quran is an important historical document just as the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and Lao Tsu’s Tao Te Ching and the Buddhist Theravada and Mahayana are important historical documents. They cannot compare to the Hebrew Tanakh or the Christian New Testament which are God inspired scripture.
You say God cannot sleep, bleed, be hungry, etc… Who are you to say what God can and cannot do. Do you truly place yourself above Him to tell Him what He can and cannot do? As the author of Hebrews says, “We do not have a God who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have One who has been tried in every way, just as we are, yet was without fault.”
Well if you say this, lets talk about Bible. read Bible and Read Quran, and then Compare the Noah of Quran and Bible, Solomon of Quran and Bible, David of Quran and Bible. and Propeht Loth of Quran and Bible it will be crystal clear which book is true.
Noah of bible gets drunk, lies on the Floor naked, His sons come and put cloth on him.If a person who is a drunkard he can claim anything. But The Noah of Quran is pure and free of such Sins.
Then Loth of Bible. On night his daughters get him drunk and then each night each daughter have sex with him.such a Person who does his own daughters is a Prophet, THere is a lot of wrong in the faith then. Incest case done by Prophet ?
read Quran and read all the Stories of Prophet in Quran and then Compare it with the Bible and then chose. Ghospel was Given to Prophet Jesus, But People made changes in the scripture, if Bible is true and True word of God then why there are so Many version of Bible ? the Word of God is supposed to be one and True.
You say I should read about Noah, Lot, David, and Solomon of the Bible and then of the Quran and compare. The difference is that the Bible shows each of these men as human and fallible. The Quran glosses over and ignores their sins. Each and every one of us are sinners. Only Jesus lived a sinless perfect life. Only Jesus is God. Yes, Noah did get drunk. The entire world had just been destroyed for their sins. The justice of God displayed without mercy in this way was overwhelming to him and he tried to drown in his sorrows. The same thing with Lot who had just witnessed the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and of his own wife. These men were in weak moments and they sinned. The Bible shows their failures as well as their triumphs and this gives the rest of us hope. We should strive for perfection, but when we fail, we can know we are in good company. there are many others who have failed and yet got back up and continued to serve God after their failure. We do not have to give up. We do not have to quit. As scripture says, “Though the righteous man may fall seven times, the Lord shall raise him up again.”
There is one Bible but there are many translations. Each of these says essentially the same thing but in different wording depending on when it was translated as languages change over time. We do not speak the same English as Shakespeare did in his day when the King James version was written. The NIV was translated in the 1980s and even that is different in some ways as what we speak today. A similar issue is found in the Quran. Depending on where you live you will be hearing a different version of the Quran spoken. In Algeria you will hear it as spoken by Nafi and transmitted by Warsh. In Sudan it is spoken by Abu `Amr al-‘Ala’ as transmitted by al-Duri. In Yemen as spoken by Ibn `Amir and transmitted by Ibn Dhakwan. Other areas as spoken by Abu Bakr `Asim and transmitted by Hafs. What are all these is not different translations?
If the Prophets mentioned in Bible does incest. have sex with his her own daughters, A prophet is a Drunkard, and so on, then im not a Prophet but im a better human than your prophets mentioned in Bible, Prophets are perfect role models. If they are curropt and make such huge sins then I dont need to learn from them, this shows that there are two issues, Either the scripture is crupted or the Propehts are crupted, But God sent propehts to guide people who are crupted so he makes his prophets a Perfection, they dont commit those sins which his nations fall upon ,if they them self gonna make such mistakes then no one will listen to them, So it only leads to crupt scripture, And Same prophets came in Quran are Sinless , Noah of Quran is a Great human never drunk, Lot of Quran is a best human who didnt Do incest. When the truth is crystal clear its the issue of Ego. that is why Quran says they know Mohamamd And truth like they would know their own sons but its their ego. THey just incline to the false hood.
Well Spoken is a different thing, I open up every site of Quran just found one copy, i Go to every store i found the same one copy, If i go to store all around the world i ask him Give me Quran, He wont say me Which Version ? i have 55 plus versions . No all is same same arabic, and Arabic is living language, And all Muslims learn arabic and read quran In Arabic. Well bible ,you people only read the translations with out knowing the orignal language ,from where it come from ,no Orign ,no research, and those preechers who does research they finally end up knowing the changes made in bible and made by who and When. I have heard many many stories, and now i also want to experience it my self.
in end , It is not us who Guide, it is God who guides, May he Guide us all, and Make you and me follow the Footsteps of Prophet Jesus Pbuh .
Ameen
When you say, “There is no God except God alone.” If you are quoting from the Quran, I have no use for it. Mohammed was a false prophet. If you are quoting the Shema Yisrael I’d like to point out something. It says, “Hear oh Israel, YHWH our Elohim is one YHWH” But both YHWH and Elohim are in the plural. It could just as appropriately be quoted, “The Lords our Gods are one Lord.” That speaks of Trinity.
You ask why Jesus prayed in the Temple. He prayed because he was fully human as well as fully God. Prayer is the vehicle through which God has chosen to work.
About the Rich young ruler, the reason Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and give it to the poor was because money was an idol in that man’s life. The first commandment is that we are to have no other gods before God.
Yes Jesus was born, but he existed long before that point. Jesus Himself said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” I AM is the same name in which God revealed himself to Moses on the side of the mountain. John says very clearly, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory. The glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth.” Jesus is God. To deny this truth is to blaspheme the very character and nature of God.
Well I didnt quote it from Quran , i quote it from Mark 10 “CHapter the Young rich man ” and to the rich man Jesus was Saying ” there is no Good Except God Alone ”
How Come Mohammad Was a False Prophet ? when he Told the truth about Jesus and told that Jesus is the Propehet and Remember Islam is the only religion that believes in Jesus.
and why did Jesus said to him Go give away all your Possesions to join me for ever in paradise instead he could have simply said to him , why do u worry im going to die for your Sins on the cross .
If dying on the cross makes Jesus the God then there are Many people who die on cross every day, If Birth of a Jesus was without a Father and that Makes him a GOd then the birth of Prophet Adam and then Eve was a much greater miracle than the Birth of the Jesus.
one thing cant be God and Human . God canot be Human and Human canot be God.
The Truth is crystal clear to u in mark 10. If you Still Deny its upto u. Jesus gave the Message of One God and he was the True Prophet ,true Messenger and the Anti Christ the Messiah.
and how you are Saying Mohammad Is a False Prophet ?
I’m sorry, I misunderstood what you were quoting. You quoted, “There is no God except God alone.” But in Mark 10 Jesus says, “Why do you call me good? There is no one good except God alone.” Jesus was simply asking the rich young ruler if he truly recognized that the person he was speaking to truly was God. It was a rhetorical question. The best way to teach is through questions and Jesus isn’t the only one to use questions in this way. Socrates is famous for it.
There are plenty of reasons to say Mohammed was a false prophet. The first and foremost is because it is the simple truth. He twisted scripture. He spoke about scripture and Christianity in a way that made it clear he did not know what he was talking about. He preached a message that is not truth.
Jesus death is not what makes Him unique. All die. It is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead that makes Him unique. Others have been raised from the dead but only Jesus raised Himself from the grave. Death and hell could not hold him.
Adam and Eve were not born, they were created. There is a big difference.
Your closing astounded me … that the God who has done something so great as to sprinkle the stars in the heavens should also take time to do something great for me …? Wow!
Pingback: John 6:28-29 (Great Works) | God's group
Reblogged this on theperfectprescription2014 and commented:
Immanuel-God with us-God with me.
Pingback: Everything is a Miracle — reblogged — Part 4 (WITH ONE LAST THOUGHT) | Citizen Tom