Scripture
At this they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on him, because His hour had not yet come.
~John 7:30, NIV
Quote
Death is not the final sleep, it is the final awakening.
~Sir Walter Scott
At least two attempts were made of Jesus life prior to the crucifixion. In John 10, the Jews tried to stone Him and at Nazareth, His home town, they tried to push Him over a cleft. In both cases Jesus mysteriously alluded them and nothing came of it because His hour had no yet come. They also tried to arrest him on several occasions. In John 7, they send the Temple Guards to arrest Him but they became enthralled with His teaching and returned empty handed. The Jewish religious leaders were upset, “Why didn’t you arrest Him? They said to the guards. “We’ve never heard any man teach the way He does,” they replied. The Jews berated them, “So He has deceived you too. You are no more intelligent than the mob that follows Him.”
In John’s gospel, beginning in chapter 2 where Mary invokes Jesus to come to her aid at the Wedding in Cana, Jesus said, “Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” In John 8, Jesus is teaching in the Temple Courts near the place where the offerings were put… “Yet no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.” In John 12:23 Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” John 13 opens with…It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. At Gethsemane, Jesus took Peter, James and John to watch while He prayed. Of course, they went to sleep and when Jesus returned for the final time, He said, “Enough! The hour has come. Look the Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of sinners.”
What is this hour? Jesus tells us in John 13 {above}, it is the hour we depart this world. That hour came for Jerry Reeves early yesterday morning. Jeremy was with him all night, sitting is a straight chair and getting little rest but his dad slept soundly until 3:00 a.m. He said a few words to Jeremy and went back to sleep but his hour had come and he departed this world between 3:00-4:00.
Jesus had an hour. Jerry Reeves had an hour. I have an hour and you have an hour. Are you prepared for that hour?
Pray for Jeremy. He is a good boy. His mom and dad could not have asked for a better son. He stayed at the hospital night and day. They talked him into coming home one time for a shower and rest but he went right back. Jeremy loves his parents and now both are gone within a span of four years.
- Normal schedule today beginning at 8:15 with Deacon’s Meeting
- Scratch list for Deacons and Trustees at the WELCOME CENTER
- Nominating Committee meets this Wednesday night at 6:00
- Joe David needs Children’s chewable vitamins for Guatemala: there are two suitcases in the foyer.
BLOCK PARTY AUGUST 13