Today I conducted the chapel services at Morning Star Assisted Living. After a rough night, I caught on some rest and am getting ready for a busy week ahead.<\/p>\n
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…\u00a0 <\/strong>“When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples,\u00a0<\/span>telling them, <\/span>\u201cGo into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me<\/span><\/span><\/em>..<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong>T<\/em><\/span><\/span>hen the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting: <\/span>Hosanna<\/span> to the Son of David! <\/span>He who comes in the name <\/span><\/span>of the Lord is the blessed One!<\/span> <\/span>Hosanna<\/span> in the highest heaven! When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, \u201cWho is this?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em> And the crowds kept saying, \u201cThis is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em> Matthew 21:1,2;9-11 HCSB As we come to Palm Sunday, I am going to divert from my normal scheduled reading reflections to focus on this special time of the year. “Palm Sunday” as it is known is the beginning of the last week of Jesus life and ministry. He comes to the Holy City, knowing what was before Him. Could anyone anticipate that the crowds who cheered Him, would be some of the same who would geer Him and chant, “Crucify Him!” by the end of the week.<\/p>\n Jesus was aware of His call and purpose and what was in front of Him. Soon after Peter declared, “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God”<\/em> we read, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.<\/em>“<\/em> (Matthew 16:21 NIV) The day Jesus came to Jerusalem was a day that had been planned, it was a day of praise and it was a day of purity. First, it was a day of preparation<\/strong>. Jesus gave instructions to His disciples about securing the use of a “colt of a donkey” for Him to use. Jesus did not just say, “go find a donkey.” He told them exactly where to go and what they would find and what to say if they were questioned.<\/p>\n I was reading today about Samuel’s instructions to Saul when he was anointed the first King of Israel. They were filled with specific details that all came true. Jesus reveals Himself as a true prophet in the instructions that He gives His disciples. This wasn’t the first time. When He called Peter and John, He told them where to cast their nets to find fish. When Peter asked about taxes, Jesus told him, go to the Lake pull out a fish and in the fish’s mouth he would find a gold coin to pay the taxes.<\/p>\n The disciples had learned that you can trust Jesus’ word. How important is that for us to remember and apply that to our lives. As we prepare for the second coming of Christ we can be confident in following the directions of Jesus on how to prepare for that event.<\/p>\n The preparations for this event were not a “last minute” detail. We see that Matthew reveals this event was foretold by the prophets.<\/p>\n “This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:<\/span> Tell Daughter Zion, <\/span><\/span>“<\/span><\/span>Look, your King is coming to you, <\/span><\/span>gentle, and mounted on a donkey, <\/span><\/span>even on a colt, <\/span><\/span>the foal of a beast of burden.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/em> (Matthew 21:4,5 HCSB)<\/p>\n This time was planned from the foundations of the earth. That which had been foretold, anticipated and longed for was now coming to pass. At the time no one really understood. But now we can look back and stand in awe of the significance of all that was happening. What the Lord plans, He fulfills.<\/p>\n Just as divine preparations were made when Jesus was born, we see that divine preparations involved in His final week and His journey to the cross. We can also be aware that divine preparations have been prophesied, are taking place and will be made for Chris to return to complete God’s redemption plan. These “last day” preparations are events that Christ disciples today can participate in and fulfill.<\/p>\n (continued tomorrow)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today I conducted the chapel services at Morning Star Assisted Living. After a rough night, I caught on some rest and am getting ready for a busy week ahead. BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…\u00a0 “When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples,\u00a0telling them, \u201cGo into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2962,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/2962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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