"Inner" Sinner.

On this past Sunday Pastor Sam spoke on the classic irony of Palm Sunday: the realization that the people who hailed Jesus as King would, only a few days later, be crying out for His death. Pastor Sam put Simon Peter and Judas under a microscope, and we reflected on the situations of these two disciples who had key roles in the story of Christ's passion.

Back on February 27, I shared a few comments about Mr. Iscariot in "Judas Rising: Indignation and Insurrection". And we'll reflect on this Judas thing some more this week. But in order to talk about Judas, we first need to talk about the inner circle. [Our brother Bob Adams (http://27gen.blogspot.com) has also recently blogged about "the inner circle"- I'd encourage you to check out his site if you have time.]

The Bible makes distinctions between the individuals Jesus ministered with:

the Seventy (KVJ) or Seventy-two (NIV) (Luke 10:1);
the Twelve (Matthew 10:1);
the Three- Peter, James, & John (Matthew 17:1)
the One- John (John 19:25-26).

The Twelve, hand-picked by Jesus Himself, were on the front lines of ministry. They had a front-row seat and witnessed miracles, healings, deliverance from demonic possession... they saw it all. And Judas was there with them, in his rightful place on the ministry team.

Do you see Judas ministering in the inner circle? I do. And there is the potential for "Judas" in all of us: that part of us that is unwilling to abandon everything for the joy of knowing Jesus. Yet, in that unwillingness, we still retain the capacity to work the works of God for a season. We heal the sick, cast out demons, and do 'good things', but in our heart we know that we are not fully engaged in relationship with Jesus.

Judas, what is it that still has a hold on you? In the face of miracles and healings, how is it that you can still hang on to that pet sin that you know is grieving the Holy Spirit? Why won't you let go?

Well, Judas won't let go because he has another love. We'll talk about it tomorrow.