"The Time For Dedication”

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John 10:22-39

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At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,

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and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.

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So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

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Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,

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but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

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My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

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I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

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My Father, who has given them to me,

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is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

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I and the Father are one.”

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The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

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Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”

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The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

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Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?

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If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—

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do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

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If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;

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but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

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Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

The Lord says, "I am coming to fill my house. And you are that house."

In John Chapter 10, Yeshua said these profound words, "I and the Father are one." It is no coincidence that Yeshua spoke these words at the time of the Feast of Dedication also known as Hanukkah. The timing and setting of this is a powerful and divine mystery.

The Feast of Dedication has its origin in the events of 167 BC. Channukah is the Hebrew word for "dedication." In fact long before 167 BC, when King Solomon "dedicated" the temple, the word used was "Chanukah.”

Now, in 167 BC the Temple had been captured by the Greeks led by the evil King Antiochus Epiphanes. He and his army desecrated the temple. They took out all the holy vessels, slaughtered a pig on the altar, and erected a statue to the false god Zeus.

Judah Macabee, a fiery lover of God led his brothers and a band of Jews to the hills to plan an attack to overthrow the largest army in the then known world. This seemed like an impossible task!

But God was with them.

They mounted an attack and were successful in defeating the Greek superpower! They entered the temple, cleansed it of all the defilements, brought back in the ancient vessels, tore down the altar to Zeus, and "rededicated" or "Chanukkah" the temple back to God. These events birthed the modern celebration known as Chanukah.

Friends, we know Yeshua said we are the temple. So these events which took place in 167 BC inside a physical temple, were a prophetic foreshadowing of what God wanted to do inside of us, his human temples.

We all have things within us that do not belong. We all have unholy vessels within us. Everyone of us have altars which seek to usurp the throne of God within our hearts.

Friends, the time has come to "Chanukkah" ourselves to God and let him reign fully within our holy temples.

So that one day, when Yeshua appears, we may utter the same words as Yeshua when He said, "I and the Father are One."

Today, we must focus on hearing a pure word from our Father. I pray the words, "I and the Father are One" reverberate through your spirit daily. For within this phrase exists the divine mystery surrounding the Second Coming.

Now is the time for our own personal "Feast of Dedication."

Our Prayer

Father, make us a dwelling place for your Spirit. We come to you in our brokenness. We come to you filled with sins of many kinds. We cannot clean ourselves. Only you can make us clean. We know before a house can be built, what stands must be torn down and a new foundation built. Father, Empty us of ourselves, that we might be built according to your design. Build us into a dwelling place for your Presence. We confess we are afraid of the journey which lies ahead. We know you are asking us to leave behind many things. Help us to sail out onto these unchartered seas with a faith weve never had before. We leave all of our preconceived notions of who you are, our theologies, our bias, our desires, all of it. We are throwing all of these things overboard in exchange for you. Father, build us into a "house" for your Spirit. Help us to decrease, so that you can increase in us. Help us to bear your image that the world may know that we have a Good Father, who reigns over the affairs of men. Make our hearts your dwelling place. Fill us with your fire. We are ready. We give you control. We are yours.

A Word from Our Father

My child, I am Spirit. For me to be revealed to the world I must create a "house" to dwell within. After the fall, I instructed my people to build a dwelling place for me. First it was the tabernacle of Moses. Then it was the first and second temples. But this was not my ultimate desire. My ultimate desire was to dwell in "houses" not made with human hands. My son/daughter, you are that house. Yeshua, the Messiah came to reveal to you my true nature and intent for mankind. Yeshua is my house. And His life, death, and resurrection tore the veil which separated me from you. And now I desire for you to approach my throne with confidence. As you draw near to me, I will draw near to you. Put the blood of Yeshua on the doorposts of your heart, and through authentic repentance and faith come to me. You do not need to clean yourself. I will clean you. I will make you my house. Do not become as the religious in your generation, who clean the outside of the cup but who inside are full of dead men's bones. Come to me, as one rejected by men but in my sight chosen and precious. You have been looking for your purpose. And now you will find it. You were made for me. You were made to become a dwelling place for my Spirit. The world has seen enough of false religion masquerading as my presence. It is time for the authentic to come. And you are that expression. So my child, let me build you into the "ship" which will carry my Presence into the earth.

Devotional Song

May this song inspire you as you worship the one who has chosen to make you His Temple.