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Pastor Joynt's Devotionals

in A New Heart for the Valley

Easter Hearts, Week 2, Day 7

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JOHN 20:22-23

 

Jesus did three things to help his disciples recover from their timidity and shame. He offered his peace and blessing rather than his criticism. He sent them out as his representatives responsible for his mission. And he gave them his Spirit and his authority.

 

The internal sense of his presence, through his Spirit, would remain when he ascended to the Father. Though small in number, outgunned by Roman armies and Jewish authorities, they would carry the Kingdom powers of grace and truth, here represented by the forgiving and retaining of sin.

 

Do you think of yourself as empowered and commissioned?

 

Do you have spiritual authority?

 

FAMILY TIME—

All Jesus’ friends are on a mission from God! Discuss.

 

Posted by David Joynt with
Tags: spiritual authority
in A New Heart for the Valley

Easter Hearts, Week 2, Day 6

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JOHN 20:20-23 

How quickly the need changed in that locked room! Fear ebbed, anxiety drained away, and there was joy and excitement! I’ll bet there was also some embarrassment. Jesus showed them his hands and side, and this gesture not only authenticated his identity, it also was a reminder that the disciples had abandoned him.

 

Jesus does three things to deal with the disciples’ guilt and shame. He greets them without recrimination. His first words are not words of reproof or condemnation, but of peace. Then he recommissions them. Nothing suggests belief in someone else like responsibility. Jesus entrusts his mission to these men, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.”

 

Hear Jesus’ words to his disciples as a message to you.

 

Put your name into the sentence of commissioning and read it out loud.

 

FAMILY TIME—

Talk to your family about church as people who gather and then are sent.

 

 

Posted by David Joynt with
Tags: commissioning

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