Before You Go to Judea, You Need to Know Who You Are In Galilee by Brother Curtis Hansen

         Our scripture reading will be coming from John chapter 7 and starting with verse 1. In the previous chapter we read about Jesus feeding a great multitude with 5 loaves of bread and two fish. We also read about Jesus walking the sea and ends with him explaining to the Jews that he is the true bread of life. His words spoken in Capernaum had angered and offended those including his disciples. By the start of chapter 7 Jesus has returned home to Galilee.

        After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jew-ry, because the Jews sought to kill him.

        2 Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.

        3 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.

        4 For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seekers to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. 

        5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.

        6 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is always ready.

        7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hates, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

        8 Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.

        9 When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.

        10 But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

        11 Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?

        12 And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth people.

        13 Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.

        Our scripture today is a reminder from a previous message which was given called "Needers and Feeders". If you look at the apostle Paul when he was Pharisee, he needed a lot of things to effectively do his job. He needed supplies, the Roman law, his dual citizenship, and authority in pursuing early Christians. Even after his conversion he would be needy at first. Need his physical state, to be taken in, to convince the early church of his conversion, to study for three years before beginning his ministry. For you as a believer to convert from needing to feeding, you have to take this word and consume it. Strengthen your prayer life and your personal walk with God, otherwise your some confused shallow faith "believer" quoting bland and hollow sentiments while needing prayer at the same time.

        Go back and re-read verses 6 through 8. Just because you are a Christian and you aren't like the world, there are certain things in your life that you need rock solid. Those things are your morals and your standards. There are those in the faith who have no problem going to battle with the devil or the world at large, but they cannot make the same principled stand against evil within their own family or even within themselves. You know the type; they're in your face about what's sin and not sin, but as soon as the person or people in their life that gives them the need to want to fight show back up, this type buckles like a belt. They give in because they lose their voice. They forget their morals and standards. The definition of success will vary from person to person because everyone has a different take on what success is and what it looks like.

        As Jesus was in Galilee with his brothers in our scripture reading, so are we here at home. It's at home where we have to learn to be upright and proper in our morals before setting off to Judea. In the preceding chapters, Jesus was called upon to perform acts like changing the water into wine at the wedding feast. He had said it is not my time. He knew what he would face, yet his siblings didn't see it. They saw things with carnal eyes and would seek to push him out from being in secret into the public. The walking on the water, feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fish.. other miracles performed, it's foolish for us to think that Jesus' brothers couldn't see money made with these miracles. It's what the flesh is concerned with, making money off any God given gift and maximizing it for its own personal good. 

        You are 55 miles away from Galilee to Judea at the start of Jesus' ministry. The Jews were already seeking to kill Jesus after the events in chapter 6 (verse 2). There's no man who does things in secret to be known openly through the land (verse 4) Jesus was not wanting to show himself to the world in his ministry, but to his people. His brothers did not understand Jesus' morals or principles of his ministry, but they would later in life. Jesus knew to stay away from areas that wanted to kill him. He knew how to avoid them in the different situations he would find himself in.

        Can you witness in your own Galilee? Can you fulfill your calling? There are many with the wrong mindset that a filled sanctuary are everything. That if there were more people reading or coming to service, the outreach could be greater. The impact could be greater. If you can't do it with a small number now, you won't get it with a larger number. This goes back to stewardship and what you do with what God has given you. You're in a time where progress has brought out everyones opinion in the open. No matter how ignorant or knowledgeable on a subject, there are no shortages of opinions out there. Some use their opinion to sway yours, while others are using it to provoke a fight. Everyone is in everyone's business in what their beliefs are. This environment is why you should always keep working on yourself. Know who you are in Jesus, and know that you can always be better. Don't start carrying iniquity in your life. That sin that you do not see. Other true believers can see that, not always the carrier. Self justification is the seed for iniquity. If the devil can quote scripture as the father of lies, you know man has scriptures to justify their sin. Fight the enemy with scripture and your brethren with your morals.