by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Jesus’ twelve apostles disappointed Him at times. Sometimes they would look at Him with a bewildered look of “what are you talking about?” as they failed to grasp the meaning and application of what He said. Sometimes, he would plainly say something simple like, “We are going up to Jerusalem, where I will be betrayed, scourged, and crucified, and rise again the third day,” and they passed it off as not true. I would have been very agitated if, when it happened, my little assembly acted totally shocked and bewildered. I told them to expect resurrection after crucifixion, and they forgot to expect it. It is like I worked with them for three years and got nothing through their thick skulls. They would sometimes fuss with each other about who would be the greatest among them in the kingdom, and I would tell them the greatest is the servant of all. They saw My many miracles and thought about the possibility of their becoming great political leaders as they drove out the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n
I tried to simplify it with parables about what the kingdom would be like, so they would quit making their dreams of future political glory. I told them that their righteous standard of living would have to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees and that they would have to love Me more than father, mother, son, or daughter, and yes, their very lives, but when the first sign of trouble came, they ran for their lives. One said he would never abandon me and that he would die for me, but turned right around and denied he even knew me three times before the morning rooster crowed. I have had about all I can take from this group! I’m fed up with them. I will no longer work with these disappointing people!<\/p>\n
What if Jesus quit the church because of the disappointing way He saw you behave? What if He gave up on you because you were too eager to give up on others? Would He have laid His life on the line for you? Isn’t it time to come back to Him and work with His church?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton Jesus’ twelve apostles disappointed Him at times. Sometimes they would look at Him with a bewildered look of “what are you talking about?” as they failed to grasp the meaning and application of what He said. Sometimes, he would plainly say something simple like, “We are going up to Jerusalem, where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,544],"class_list":["post-94485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-membership"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40671,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-reality-of-unreason\/","url_meta":{"origin":94485,"position":0},"title":"The Reality of Unreason","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. 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The incident that Paul relates took place shortly after his conversion, after he had fled from Damascus and returned to Jerusalem, still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/locked-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":48766,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-expect-me-to-remain-a-christian-in-the-face-of-the-death-of-my-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":94485,"position":1},"title":"How can God expect me to remain a Christian in the face of the death of my son?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there, I recently lost my newborn son due to a premature birth about a month ago. It has been really hard on both me and my husband. 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