The Roof is Green!...Matthew 26:57-68...The Trials Have Begun

 

The roof project has been completed!  We can't say "thank you Lord" enough.  We were able to raise $61,105.00 of the $110,000.00 so far.  Funds came in from all over the United States.  When you crest the rise on US Hwy 34 just before the church, the green roof catches you eye.  The problem areas were addressed and the very brittle shingles came off with hardly any effort.  The roofing company we hired did a fantastic job and clean up was exceptional with it spanning over 2 Sundays.  We have a 20 year warranty on workmanship, 20 years from the insurance company on replacement value and 50 years on the shingles themselves.  

We are also in the time of the year that we have visitors from all over each Sunday.  We might only see them once but we are thankful to connect with brothers and sisters in Christ from other parts of the country or just across the pass to the Front Range.  We strive to be a beacon of the gospel of Jesus Christ to this part of Grand County.  I preach chapter by chapter and verse by verse but each sermon needs to stand alone with its application to our lives for the continual learner and the one time drop in.

We have entered the trial period of Jesus heading to the cross.  The plot by the religious leaders is to kill Jesus by trickery; the passion of Mary of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in worship of Jesus as Lord is an example to us all; the plan is hatched by Judas Iscariot and the religious leaders and 30 pieces of silver is jingling in his pocket; the Passover is celebrated and spoken of by Jesus as fulfilled; the promise is given from Jesus to His disciples about eating again with them in the kingdom of God; the pride of Peter comes out when told that all of them would be made to stumble; the prayers of Jesus were given in the Garden of Gethsemane of "not My will but Your will be done"; the pass off of Jesus was completed with Judas' kiss; and now Jesus has an audience with the high priest.

I give a pretty thorough description of the Jewish court proceedings in the message.  As we walk through the trials, it is obvious that they are not following their own guidelines.  The man-made rules and the God-given rules are set aside in a big way.  Even when Jesus reminds them of how things should be handled, He gets a slap on the face for it.  He follows His own instruction to His disciples and turns the other cheek with another question rather than smoking the guy!  Self-control and sovereignty are two things to consider when looking at Jesus walking through the trial period.

Another thing to observe is when Jesus speaks and when He doesn't.  He does not speak during the times of false accusations or the mocking of Him but He does speak when a truth statement needs to be heard.  The high priest puts Him under oath of God to answer if He is the Christ, the Son of God and He does with a fashion to speak of the future consequences of who He is.  Jesus jumps from this trial to the final trial when He comes again to judge the living and the dead.  His answer is so clear that He is saying that He is God that the high priest tears his own priestly robe because he believes he just witnessed blasphemy against God.  This is the only exception given by the Jewish Talmud for the high priest to tear this holy garments designed by God.

One last point before signing off on this blog post is the fact that they were attacking Jesus on what He had said and not on what He had done.  His actions proved by Scripture that He was who He said He was.  His actions were the fulfillment of numerous prophecies about the coming Messiah.  Thousand of eye witnesses could come forward on those accounts.  Even what the false witnesses brought forward was not accurate to what Jesus actually said.  So much was going to be revealed to the disciples when this is all over.  They are going to have so many "ah-ha" moments as they connect the dots of what Jesus actually said to what He fulfillingly actually did.

We end with the fleeing of the disciples as Jesus said and the Scriptures proclaimed would happen.  Peter and John have wandered back with John getting Peter into the courtyard because of his family connections with the high priest's family.  Another Jesus' saying is about to be fulfilled in real time on Peter's behalf.

Adam