Authority Vs. Authority

<ol><li> The King takes his seat of honor in the temple<br />Recall his 12th year when he was about his Father’s business <br />The seat of Godly authority from which the rule of God is to take place</li><li>The crowds hang on to his every word. Gathering for the Passover and Pentecost (feast of weeks or first fruits)</li><li>The confrontation continues to escalate between the leaders and Jesus. From this moment through Acts 7 the focus is on Jerusalem and all that transpires here. This is the heart of the Gospel message and it is clearly divisive, especially on the issue of authority in general and the ultimate spiritual authority in particular. One group seeks temporal and immediate authority the other sees a much bigger picture and sees eternal authority. The theme of a divided people continues to escalate.</li><li>The direct question of authority<br />Why is this important to the leaders? The people, the teaching, the disruption of man made traditions that nullified the power and intentions of God<br />Their blindness to both the purpose of Israel and God’s plan for all mankind to be blessed by them<br />Their losing control of the people and their fear of people.  Their hypocrisy in not answering Jesus – what leaders are supposed to do is bring clarity to understanding the good news of God’s Kingdom</li><li>The parable that shows the failure in leadership to focus on the God given responsibilities and abusing the temporal for personal purposes of power and or greed.  Taking pride in their positions of honor. All issues addressed by Jesus, both directly and indirectly. He speaks to the people, but about the leaders.  This is clearly understood because of Isaiah 5!</li><li>The response is clear: and Jesus again quotes Psalm 118 – the cornerstone. Here the same judgement is clearly passed as shown in the parable of the minas, and the destruction of those who did not want the rule of God in their lives. Is it a stumbling block, or is it a judgement that crushes, the only way to see it as a lace of safety and hea