Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53

Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

^2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.

^7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn't true.

¹⁰Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

^11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many "righteous ones,"
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Each time i read Isaiah 53, i am over whelmed by the love of Christ and reminded what He actually went through. The other day i was reading the passage in the message, and it hit home again... in a different way.I thought i would share it with you. In reading this passage in the Message, it got me thinking, if Jesus came now... would we recognise Him... the people of the first century didn't, would we... or would we just pass Him by... like so many people pass by people sitting on the street, and don't even smile, don't even seem to see them, or pretend like they didn't see them... would we see Jesus if He came... Hopefully each one of you would see Him. Jesus has told us in the Scripture that He is with the people sitting on the street, with the hungry or thristy, with those in prison, or nowhere to live... He told us that what we do for people in those sorts of situations, we do it to Him... so do you take notice of the people sitting on the street and at least acknowlege them, do you help people who you see that are hungry or thristy.

healings

Last night i was sitting out on the street with some aboriginals while they were waiting for the map bus to come and pick them up. We were sharing "stories". One of the girls, my age, was telling why she came down to adelaide from the small community where she lived near Alice Springs. She came down here cause her partner was in intensive care in a coma after being hit over the head with a iron bar.... and had a huge amount of stitches in his head... the doctors didn't know if he would come out of the coma with out brain injuries. The girl was actually saying that he was gone, he was dead like. She continued her story... she prayed for partner and the next day he was wake and eating ice chips... fully conherant.

She also shared another story of when she was still up near Alice Springs, living in her community, she got bronchitis, and was really sick with it, and got sent to Alice Springs hospital, and she prayed and got better.

Then her mother inlaw also shared stories of how she was healed back when she was younger.

I Praise the Jesus for the healing that these guys experienced. So do they... their eyes lit up when they were sharing their stories...

It was just so encouraging to hear them... so i thought i would share

It was awesome to hear their stories, and share with them. I pray that they will continue to follow Christ.

change

It seems every year in the second half of the year i go through some sort of change in my circumstances... and this year looks like it is not going to be any different.  It looks like things in Adelaide are going to change... there is a high possibility of if at any rate.

In some ways i am so sick of change, and i am starting to hate having to nearly start again, it is to point that sometimes i want to throw my hands up and give in.

Ministry here, has been a process of get to know people and share with people, and then it all changes and the process starts again.... I have seen so many people come and go, both workers (each year different people helping out) and also guys on the street (there are only about 3 or 4 people that i know out at the soup run that have been going there since i started going there).

So with the changes that might be happening, i don't really know what i am meant to be doing, whether, i still stay or whether i am to move on too... I am praying that the Lord shows me... and just trusting Him, that He'll guide me, cause i just don't know.  I would love your prayers to.

At the moment i just feel lost with it all, as i only found out tonight of the possible changes, and nothing is certain at the moment... so there is a chance that things might stay the same.

As you can probably tell, this is all pretty fresh in my head... so sorry if it is all over the place.

V-blog.

i thought i would do this for something different... and i was having fun playing around on my computer doing it. ...