The email topic for this past week was “Jesus Introduced the Lord’s Supper”. In it, we saw that, after Jesus had instructed the disciples about remembering his death until He returned, and warned them that they would each deny him, Peter depended on his own strength and did exactly what he said he would never do.
A few hours earlier, in John 15:5, Jesus had said, “‘I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.’” Peter boldly defended Jesus while he was standing next to Jesus when the religious leaders came to arrest Jesus. However, when he and the others fled, Luke 22:54 says, “Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance.” Here, we see that Peter was no longer standing with Jesus but was following at a distance. Luke 22:61 tells us what Jesus did after Peter denied Him the third time. That verse says, “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’” Here, we see that Peter did not even remember, until he had already denied Jesus the third time. When we depend on our own strength, we will also deny Jesus by our words, actions or both. We want to help our physical and spiritual children learn to yield to Christ moment-by-moment, instead of depending on their own strength. Only as we yield to the Holy Spirit moment-by- moment will we be able to stand in the strength of Christ. May the Lord richly bless you as you help your children understand this important lesson.
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