{"id":2778,"date":"2018-01-04T05:49:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T12:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2018-01-02T18:24:15","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T01:24:15","slug":"king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/?p=2778","title":{"rendered":"King"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Return of the King<\/em>, directed by Peter Jackson, won eleven Academy Awards including Picture of the Year for 2003. Besides being the powerful conclusion to the Lord of the Rings trilogy filmed in beautiful New Zealand, I can\u2019t help but think that part of the movie\u2019s popularity involves something that resonates deep in the hearts of human beings regarding the true King.<\/p>\n<p>Tolkien fans know Aragorn is the lonely Ranger called Strider who befriended four hobbits early in their journey. No one would have suspected that he was the one destined to be king of Middle-earth. Always content to be in the background, when danger appeared Aragorn was quick to respond with courage and an uncanny ability to defeat any foe.<\/p>\n<p>So it is with the true King who has saved us and called us for His glory. Born in a stable, raised in the poor village of Nazareth, content to live in obscurity as the son of a carpenter, Jesus was identified as the Christ by His Father after being baptized in the Jordan River. In meekness and power, the King \u201cwent around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.\u201d (Acts 10:38)<\/p>\n<p>With His Father\u2019s authority, Jesus lived and proclaimed a Kingdom that is vastly different from the kingdoms men build. Most of the religious did not recognize the King\u2026 who was also their God. They opposed Him because His words and ways did not match their own. They hated the One who came to save them. Notice Jesus\u2019 anger and sorrow in Mark\u2019s story:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a paralyzed hand. In order to accuse Him, they were watching Him closely to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath. He told the man with the paralyzed hand, \u2018Stand before us,\u2019 then He said to them, \u2018Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good or to do what is evil, to save life or to kill?\u2019 But they were silent. After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts, He told the man, \u2018Stretch out your hand.\u2019 So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.\u201d (Mark 3:1-6 HCSB)<\/p>\n<p>What sets Jesus apart is the love with which He operates. He loved the man with a disability, but He also loved the ones who plotted to kill Him. He proved this love by dying for us all. The King of kings abdicated His rights and chose not \u201cto be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.\u201d (Mark 10:45)<\/p>\n<p>The King now calls us to walk this noble path. We might say, \u201cBut I don\u2019t have the faith or the love to live like Jesus!\u201d This is true\u2026 without God; but \u201cwith God all things are possible.\u201d We all have a measure of faith, and the Lord asks us to use the faith we have\u2026 to give, to pray, to heal, and to be His witnesses. We all know the love of God, and so Jesus asks us to share this love He has given us with everyone we encounter. Remember that \u201cGod\u2019s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.\u201d (Rom 5:5) Let\u2019s love fearlessly!<\/p>\n<p>As we remind one another of our King\u2019s return and as we proclaim the Gospel to the world, may we walk with His kindness, His purpose, and His joy. Happy New Year!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.\u201d I Peter 2:21<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Return of the King, directed by Peter Jackson, won eleven Academy Awards including Picture of the Year for 2003. Besides being the powerful conclusion to the Lord of the Rings trilogy filmed in beautiful New Zealand, I can\u2019t help but think that part of the movie\u2019s popularity involves something that resonates deep in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jesus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}