Mark 7:9-13

Mark 7:9-13 And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

“You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the Law were allowing people not to support their fathers and mothers by saying I have given this money to God that was supposed to have gone to you. Of course, this was a way of getting more money into the coffers of the priests. Jesus rebukes them for this tradition because it violated God's written commandment of ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ By dishonoring their fathers and mothers in this way, the Pharisees were actually leading the people into a horrible judgment by God. This abridgment to the commandments was dishonoring God, for the fathers and mothers had passed down to the children the ways of God by their living examples. They were the daily implementers of the Law. By allowing the fathers and mothers who were past their prime to fend for themselves, the religious leaders were dishonoring God. To not honor fathers and mothers was a terrible affront to God himself.

We also can fall into this selfish mindset. We might rightly honor our fathers and mothers, but we allow ourselves to violate God's royal Law of loving others as ourselves by setting up a lifestyle that is too busy or too self-oriented to allow anyone else into it. We can point to all the good things that we have done, but have we done the necessary things for God. Jesus said, "And you do many things like that.” They not only dishonored their fathers and mothers, they were doing other activities that were displeasing to God. Jesus knew their hearts were far from God. Their basic focus was on their own needs and making life easier for themselves. We can also adopt that mode of thinking. We might not steal money from our fathers and mothers, but we might steal time away from our loved ones and people who need us. We might hoard our personal time for ourselves. We might find ourselves gluttonous in doing our OWN WILL, going our own way.

I believe the above passage is not primarily about abridging a commandment--it is about lifestyle, focus. Otherwise, Jesus would not have alluded to the many things they were also doing wrong. He was pointing out the emptiness in their lives. They were self-protecting, self-absorbed. Even in their religious activities, they were there for their own reasons. I believe we do this as well. Church is sometimes viewed as something we do for ourselves. We go to church, not to help out, not to serve others, but we go there to get our spiritual tanks filled and our needs met. Oftentimes we use a religious activity purely for ourselves. And we seek the church that best meets our needs, not the church that needs us. However, our gathering together should be for the body: to meet the fathers', mothers', sisters' and brothers' needs, not just ours. Do we walk into the church seeking to build up and to strengthen others, or do we walk into the church focused only on ourselves? We need God's perspective: He loves us dearly, but He loves the body dearly too. We need to fit into the body, functioning for every member. We don't just fulfill a tradition of going to church; we fulfill a law of God (the heart of God) of loving each other as we love ourselves. Jesus knew the hearts of the religious leaders. He knew that their activities and manmade traditions were mainly for themselves. We need to be wary of living a religious or secular life that is primarily for ourselves. Jesus said they would know we were his followers because we love one another. . .

Mark 7:1-8

Mark 7:1-8 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?” He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”

Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

"You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” In the first passage we see Jesus scolding the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for following the practices of man and not of God. He calls them hypocrites, for He knows that their hearts are far from God. They are pretending to know God, but they don't have a relationship with God. They were practitioners of religion and not lovers of God and man. When Jesus was asked, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” He responded with two commandments, “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,' and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" As He noted, all other laws hang on these two relational commandments. God desires our love, and He desires that we love others. Rituals and traditions can reflect this love; however, for many people, religious rituals and traditions reflect the last vestige of a dying relationship with God. People will hold onto these practices without understanding the reasons for them. They will perform them as a substitute for a personal relationship with God. They'll carry out the religious acts to please this unknowable, distant God. Jesus saw the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that people would honor God with their lips and practices, but their hearts were far from him--their worship was in vain.

Sometimes very good people try to please God with church going, with praying, with reading devotionals, and even with reading the Bible in a regimental way. They do want to please God, but they have placed this God outside of themselves. They are trying to please him with their actions, their dedication, and with their discipline. But God desires their hearts, not their practices. He desires a relationship. He calls us his children. When we start serving the God of relationship, we fall in love with him, for we know him in a personal way. Our hearts are not far from him; our hearts are very near to him. We learn his voice, we hear his words, and we follow him the best we can in an intimate way. For many years God was distant to me. Yes, I prayed fervently, I sang songs victoriously, but still God was the Great Father in heaven more than He was the Great Lover of my soul within me. I felt I needed to please him all of the time. If I failed in the flesh, I felt removed from him, disconnected. I felt condemned, and unworthy to be in his presence. To me the Bible was more of a law book than a love book. This is a dreadful way to live, for you are never fully assured of your relationship with God.

Finally, I realized the Bible was a love letter to me, and to a dying world. I came to realize that I was not serving some distant God in heaven, but I was serving a God who loved me and wanted an intimate relationship with me. So much so, that He sent the Comforter to me and to everyone else who is "born again" and in the household of God. My life changed and my attitude changed. I then could really start working on the second royal command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Knowing that God loved me unreservedly, unconditionally, and that I would never be alone without him, I could start loving people in the same way. Then scriptures such as loving my enemies became understandable and possible. The Pharisees were caught serving an unknowable, distant God. They were following the traditions of man for their own selfish reasons. To the people, they seemed very religious and holy, but they did not know God. Without a love connection to God the Father, the Pharisees were caught up in the spirit of man: judging, criticizing, condemning. But Jesus says, "You hypocrites, you honor God with your lips and practices, but your hearts are far from THE LOVING GOD. You have chosen religion over knowing God." Let us all be aware of the result of following after traditions rather than serving a living Lord. We should know God, not religion. We should walk in the light of Christ's love.

Mark 6:53-56

Mark 6:53-56 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went — into villages, towns or countryside — they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Matthew 9:1-6 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . .” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”

Why did Jesus come? Was his coming to heal everyone or make people right with God? Was his coming to give people eternal life here or in heaven? Why did he heal? Why was everyone was healed then and not now? (all who touched him were healed) Why don't our great healers go and empty out the hospitals by healing all the sick who are there? Why did Jesus heal only one invalid at the pool of Bethesda? He asked only one sick person, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6) Of course, all at the pool would have said, "Yes." Mary, Martha and Lazarus (who was raised from the dead) all died. All these questions need to be considered honestly and biblically by Christians. Also, believers need to ask whether Jesus heals today. And if He does, who? Is faith the answer to healing today? Are those who are without faith the ones who don't get healed? No, we know that is not true, for some of the people with the most faith die sick in their bodies. Missionaries who have great faith in God's protection and help find themselves as martyrs, not rescuers. Paul himself died on a missionary journey that was empowered by faith. We see great men and women of God in the early church and today persevere through trials with faith that is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Jesus landed to bring healing and redemption to Gennesaret and the surrounding land. He came to earth to bring healing and eternal life to us. He came to bring "good news" to a sick and dying world. When Jesus came to Earth, the light of God came to Earth. The light of God healed the people and healed the land. He brought salvation to the people, a right relationship with God. What about physical healing? Jesus healed to reveal that He was the SON OF GOD. He healed to show that God had compassion on the people, that He wanted them well, not sick. But Jesus did not come so that all would be well physically, for his primary message was that we have a home and it is with God. This world is but a puff of smoke--life is but a puff of smoke. It is here and then it is gone almost instantaneously. Every generation passes away. Does Jesus heal? Yes, He heals. He healed all of us who believe. We are eternal beings NOW, whether we die today or tomorrow. He has healed us from sin and death. Does He heal the physical body? YES, OFTEN. More times than we realize. But, will He make sure that our bodies don't die of a disease, infirmity, or (euphemistically speaking) "old age." No, the flesh has been contaminated by sin, and sin has consequences. Should we pray for physical healing? Always! God does heal! But I don't think we will ever know why He heals some and not others. We put our trust and faith in him and his sovereign will and purposes.

However, we do know that God has given light to every man (John 1), and the product of that light is that man has the ability to create. Jesus Christ, THE CREATOR, embellishes that light. I believe marvelous medical procedures and inventions are also a product of that light. God still wants people well and not sick. He heals in many ways, but this WORLD IS NOT OUR HOME. If someone would lay before us all that this world has to offer, we would still choose Jesus. For we know He alone is our life. Yes, He landed at Gennesaret. He healed all, He ministered to all, but that is not enough for lasting happiness. To be eternally happy, we must believe and have faith that Jesus Christ is our life, our everything. He alone has life, and in HIM we have eternal life. All else is temporary, fleeting. All else will not satisfy, even healing.

Mark 6:46-51

Mark 6:46-51 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

This is an amazing story, for it tells about Jesus NOT being in the boat. In the storm depicted in Mark 4, Jesus was IN the boat. They had someone they could wake up. “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38) He was very real to them at that time. However, in the above scripture, they had left Jesus on the shore to dismiss the people who had been fed the loaves and fishes. Jesus had been miraculously with them that day, but He wasn't with them now. This passage clearly illustrates they didn't understand that Jesus was concerned about them whether He was in the boat or not. He had directed them to get in the boat and to go to Bethsaida. Even though Jesus had given them orders to go, they met heavy winds, unremitting turmoil, and they were struggling to fulfill Jesus' directive. The Bible says their hearts were hardened, so they didn't fully understand what had miraculously just happened with the feeding of the 5,000. They had already forgotten that God had performed an impossible task that day. Because their hearts were hardened, they could not remember the good things of God. The miraculous things of the past rolled off their innermost beings like water off a windowpane. But Jesus wanted them to have soft hearts, similar to a sponge that could absorb the good things of the past and remember them.

It is interesting that this passage implies that Jesus is just going to the other side to greet the disciples when they reach their destination. However, He notices that their struggle is not merely a physical one, but an attitudinal one as well. They were not only fighting the wind, they were fighting their own fears. They were trying to do what Jesus commanded them to do, but they were losing heart, losing strength. Well, Jesus said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” He was saying, I am still with you. I will help you across. I will make sure you fulfill my mission. Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. THEY WERE AMAZED. They could not believe that the wind calmed down, and they could not believe that Jesus' powerful, miraculous presence was with them again in the boat. They were not alone.

God has divinely placed many of you where you are. Your lives in the Lord have been supernaturally directed. Even though you know that God has been in your life in a marvelous way, now you are in the boat, and you feel as if Jesus is not with you. The waves are high, and you don't seem to be making any headway. It feels as if you are straining at the oars with the wind against you, preventing you from reaching your God-directed destination. You are even questioning your orders: Have I truly been chosen to carry his message, to do his will? Your strength is being dissipated, your vision is muddled, and your adversaries seem too great to overcome. However, Jesus is passing by. At different times, we are all in that boat of turmoil: the waves are high, the wind is against us, and we feel God isn't there to help us. Oh yes, we still have faint recollections that He helped us in the past, but the present turmoil is just too terrifying to clearly remember the previous victories. However, when we experienced them, we KNEW THEY WERE MIRACLES. Well, let the Holy Spirit soften your hearts today. Remember the past, remember in your life when the Lord miraculously fed the 5,000. He is still that miraculous Savior today. You might think He is walking by, forsaking you, but He isn't. He knows where you are, and even on the high seas, He is with you. You are never alone. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Mark 6:35-45

Mark 6:35-45 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five — and two fish.” Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

This is a wonderful story, for it reveals the nature of a TRUE SHEPHERD. Jesus fed the sheep. The true shepherd watches out for the sheep. The disciples were there, they were reveling in Jesus' ministry, but they were not yet shepherds. They pretty much wanted to get these people out of their hair as quickly as they could since the "real ministry" was over. First, they thought Jesus should just dismiss them, send them away. Next, they thought maybe they might have to use eight months' wages to get these people fed and on their way. But Jesus says, “You give them something to eat." As a good shepherd, Jesus took inventory of what He had, how much good pasture He had left. The disciples tell him, five loaves and the two fish. This was all Jesus had to feed the sheep, but it was abundantly enough. The good shepherd will always make sure that He has abundantly enough for that day. Jesus did not let the sheep mill around, searching for their own food. He directed them. . .sit down in groups. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. When they were quieted, orderly, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Jesus gave thanks for the provisions He had and asked God to make it abundant. After the people were done eating, the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish, one for each disciple.

In this story of feeding the 5,000, we see the actions of a "true shepherd," a true dad, a true mother, a true head of the household, a true friend. We see Jesus gathering the sheep around him and taking care of them. He did not let the disciples take control of them; He took control of them. The disciples merely followed his orders. In fact, Jesus was so much responsible for the people that He first sent his disciples away to the boat before He dismisses the people. Jesus is left alone amongst the crowd to say his intimate and congregate good-byes. I am sure He must have been tired after ministering all day. But He was alone to deal with their persistent outreached hands, their pleas for help, and finally their excited good-byes. He left last because He was the "good shepherd." How quickly do we want to leave after we have ministered? How quickly do we want to leave a hospital room after we have prayed for the sick person? How concerned are we for our loved ones when we have had a long, tiring day and seek rest? Are we too quick to exit the scene, to leave the sick, the lonely, the hurting?

Jesus was the good Shepherd. I believe there were twelve baskets because Jesus was teaching each disciple that day about ministering. He was teaching them that little is enough if the provisions are provided and blessed by God. He was teaching them what it means to really care for the people. Yes, the disciples loved the ministry part, but I don't believe they cared very much for the service part. They loved the crowd looking their way because they were the chosen twelve, but they did not care as much about serving the people. Why can I say that? Because they were human, just as you and I are human. These are the same men who argued about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. But that day, Jesus revealed the work and the heart of a true shepherd: He sacrifices his life, his comfort, his desires for the sheep.

Mark 6:30

Mark 6:30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Where did this carpenter get all of his knowledge and understanding? How did He become so wise? His wisdom and knowledge impressed not only the general public but the Pharisees and Sadducees. However, the Pharisees and Sadducees were somewhat galled by what they considered Jesus' pretentious understanding of the Pentateuch. They considered themselves to be the real scholars, the chosen few, the mature in the ways of the Law. They felt that they alone had the entitlement to lead the people to God, to explain his Law and to define his righteousness. Notice in the above passage that Jesus had compassion on the people, for He considered them as sheep without a shepherd. He knew the spiritual leaders of that time were not shepherds. Their concern was not for the people, but for themselves, for their own personal aggrandizement. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces." (Luke 11:43) Jesus knew the people needed a shepherd, one who would give his all for the sheep, one who would care for them night and day, one who would sacrifice his life for the sheep.

Well, we have a shepherd, even Jesus who is spiritually manifested through the Holy Spirit that is within us. That is why we need emersion, not only in water but in the Holy Spirit. "I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ (John 1:33) Even Jesus when He walked on this earth needed the direction and POWER of the Holy Spirit. "One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick." (Luke 5:17) Jesus knew the power of God to heal was within him. He felt that power. The woman with the issue of blood released that power by her faith. We also have that power if we have the Holy Spirit in us, and we do have the Spirit within us.

We who believe are all connected by God's Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "I must go away so that I can send you the Comforter, and He will be IN YOU." As much as we are now connected by the internet, so are we connected by the Spirit of God. This Holy Thread runs from one believer to the next, connecting us all to each other through the Holy Spirit. The Bible says we are ONE BODY, ONE SPIRIT--the Holy Spirit. Now we can all pray for each other, and we know God hears us, for we are on HIS HOLY INTERNET. We can pray for people who are thousands of miles away from us, and the message instantaneously reaches its destination. That is why our missionaries can receive so much help from our prayers: they are connected to us, not by time, but by the Holy Spirit. Where did Jesus' wisdom and knowledge come from? Where did this carpenter receive such an anointing that He could move people's hearts with his words? It was from the Holy Spirit. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul talks about us prophesying and exercising the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians. Why do we exercise these gifts? We function because the Holy Spirit is the dynamo that energizes our spirits and concomittantly the whole church. God is alive in us individually and collectively. He has connected the whole church together IN HIM THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. Therefore, live for Jesus. Permit the Holy Spirit to sing songs through you, to speak words of wisdom through you, to comfort the brokenhearted through you, to touch the wounded with your hand. For that is Jesus' desire. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them.

Mark 6:14-29

Mark 6:14-29 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.” But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!” For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” “The head of John the Baptist,” she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Matthew 14:13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

Does Jesus care about our troubles, our heartaches, our sicknesses? This is a question that many of us have in our hearts. If He really cared would He not be doing something about our problems? Would He not spare me this grief, this pain I am experiencing? I think this is not only the question that Christians sometimes harbor in their hearts, but it is an abiding thought in the consciousness of the world. Why is there so much pain? Why, as in the above passage, do evil people get their way? Why doesn't justice reign if there is a God?

Well, God does exist, and He does care. After hearing of John's beheading, Jesus withdrew to mourn John's death, his friend from childhood. Jesus also wept over Lazarus. Jesus mourned over Jerusalem's wayward ways. Jesus trudged wearily and incessantly from city to city to spread the "good news" because He cared. And of course, Jesus cared so much that He gave his life for the world, and then at his crucifixion, He lovingly beseeched the Father to "forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Yes, Jesus cared, God cares. However, that doesn't answer the question that each of us personally has in our hearts. Yes, I know He cares, but DOES HE CARE FOR ME, and if so, HOW DO I KNOW THAT. This is when the Comforter comes to the rescue. He abides within every "saved" individual. He alone can talk to our spirits. All other talk can be resisted, evaluated, judged as true or not, but the Holy Spirit speaks to the innermost being of every Christian. He is always saying, "Yes, I care, and YOU ARE NOT ALONE. I AM WITH YOU." Is this not the reason that Jesus and Stephen could say forgive them when they were exposed to killing mobs. Is it not the reason that Paul could get up from a stoning and go back into the very town where the people who stoned him dwelled. There must be more inside of us than ourselves or the question of Jesus' concern will never be satisfied in our souls.

The unremitting truth of human existence is that sin and death abide here, and all who are alive will be affected by these negative influences. No one will escape the tentacles of sin, and no one will leave here, unless the rapture happens, without experiencing death. But Jesus does care. He came to rescue us from the sentence of death. We who are saved have eternal life within us. We have been delivered from the eternal consequences of sin. As believers, we pray that God will intervene in our lives, in the world, and in our friends' lives, but we are all still walk about as inhabitants of Earth and not heaven. This world is contaminated. As with John, bad things do happen to good people. But God is able to bring good out of everything, even our deaths. Therefore, in everything we give thanks, and we pray fervently about all things. We pray when we need deliverance, healing, and solutions to life's problems. We pray, and we pray. And we sing praises to his name, for He is worthy of all praise and honor. For we know God is good, and He will intervene in our lives. But not all our answers are yes: some are wait, and some are no. However, even in our insignificant lives, we know, "He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." (1 Corinthians 1:28-29) No matter what, we know He uses our lives and the conditions of our lives to confound the wise and to bring glory to himself. Whether we are sick, despised, troubled, despairing, or confused, may our lives be lived by faith to bring glory to him, for HE DOES CARE.

Mark 6:6-13

Mark 6:6-13 Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

John 6:48-51 I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Jesus sent the disciples out without the worldly goods to sustain life. He didn't want them to take bread, a bag, or money. He asked them to go in faith, believing that He, the Bread of Heaven, would sustain them. If a town would not support the disciples' efforts of bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to them, they were to shake the dust off their feet and to continue to the next town. They went in faith, performing many miracles. I believe on their journey they must have been concerned about their next meal or about who would give them lodging that night. I am sure the anxieties of the world pressed in upon them, but since Jesus sent them out with this order that they should not provide for themselves, they had to depend daily upon the goodwill of the people and God's supply. This sending out of the disciples is analogous with the children of Israel's wilderness experience. There, they had to depend on manna to sustain them. Manna materialized every morning except on the Sabbath. In the wilderness, they had to depend upon God's provision. While they were there, God provided for them in many miraculous ways; even the sandals on their feet did not wear out. He also gave them strength to overcome their enemies.

So it is with us: when we are in the desert place, a place without natural provisions, we need the Bread of Heaven to materialize in our world. We need his reality, his provisions, on a daily basis. In Christ, we abide in a place of miracles, a place where we can pray for others, where we can see the sick healed, and demons driven out, but as a people, we must also repent. We must repent of living exclusively on the provisions of the world, the security of the world. Sometimes we Christians have Jesus as a side dish. We have him as a supplement to the rest of our lives, an addition to the essential things. Everything else is more important: our jobs, our housing, our relationships, our children, our spouses, our recreation--everything else is more important than Christ and building his kingdom within us. If asked, we would say, no that is not true. But when we analyze our thoughts, our actions, how we spend our time and money, we know it is true. We spend almost all of our time thinking about the cares of this life. We might go days without thinking solely about him and his eternal purposes.

Oh yes, on Sundays we may perform our perfunctory duties to him by going to church or even teaching Sunday School or leading worship. But serving Jesus, the Bread of Heaven, is not just a perfunctory ritual, an add-on to life, HE IS LIFE. Without that awareness and reality, we need to repent. We need to repent with our whole hearts! Our lives cannot be ours, they must be Christ's. If they are ours, we will receive little from the Lord. For we are like the people in the wilderness who stored up manna for the next day; it rotted in their mouths. Our testimony cannot be, last week, or last month, or last year, this is what God did in my life. No, what is God doing in your life today? Where are you picking up manna today? We cannot have an experience with Christ one day and store it up for the days that are coming. It will not sustain us. It will not keep us from temptation. It will not deliver us from evil and bring us into victory that we can share with others. "They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them." UNDER JESUS' ORDERS, THE DISCIPLES LEFT ALL TO MINISTER. THEY LEFT ALL. . .

Mark 6:1-6

Mark 6:1-6 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Sometimes your testimony to your unsaved friends and relatives is rejected for they resent you presumptuously talking about "God." Aren't you just one of them? Why do you think you are so special that you can instruct them about God? This idea was prevalent in Jesus' hometown, even though Jesus seemed entitled to talk about God, for He possessed great wisdom and performed many miracles. Nevertheless, He still was gauged as a hometown boy; therefore, He was considered to be just like them, a Galilean. I am sure they thought of him being quite uppity in a religious sense. So much so that only a "few" townspeople came to him. Only a few sought him out to help them, and probably those few were the most desperate in the community. They were similar to the ones in today's society whose homes are crashing, whose children are straying, who are sick beyond a cure, or who are finding that they cannot make it another day. They truly needed deliverance in their lives. They needed the Christ in their lives, and they needed him now. They were not going to consider where He came from; they were only going to consider what He could do. However, most of the people in Jesus' community avoided him. Most stayed as far away as they could away from the "carpenter." They gossiped about him: Jesus was the talk of the town. "Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” But they weren't going to accept him as the Christ. To them He still was the familiar carpenter who worked among them. He still was the man that they conversed with while going about their daily routines. He was definitely not perceived by them as the Christ, as the Son of God, or even as a man who was filled with the Spirit of God at the Jordan River. Therefore, few took advantage of the reality that the Son of God was in their presence. Few received their healing. Few were delivered from demons. Few heard the message that would deliver them from the grip of Satan and the world.

Today, that is also true. Men see Christians just as they are, but with a different belief system. But the Bible indicates that there is one great distinction between Christians and anyone else, and that is that we are filled with the Holy Spirit. God abides in us through the Holy Spirit's presence. Therefore, we do bring light to a dark world. We do bring the living water to a thirsty land. We espouse the Word of God that heals mind, soul and spirit. We are known in heaven as God's servants. As Christians when we look at each other, we just don't see a "carpenter," a housewife, a professional, a neighbor, a friend, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, we see someone that God saved and adopted into his family, someone He is now using. We see someone we can go to for prayer, counseling, and help--someone who has the Spirit of God operating in his or her life. Yes, the world might not recognize who we are, but we should recognized each other as part of the family of God with the same spirit that is within God himself. Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. Jesus was amazed that so few sought him out. We as children of God should seek each other out when we need help. At my home church, Evergreen Four Square, our giving is down, and our pastors may not receive a salary this month. What does God want us to do about that? We should also still seek to help the lost whether they recognize we have something for them or not, for that is our mission. We are his instruments not only to each other but to the world.

Mark 5:24-34

Mark 5:24-34 A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

“Who touched my clothes?” There was a large crowd around Jesus that day, just as there is a large crowd of people everywhere we go here on Earth. I believe most of Earth's dwellers see God in some way or other as just too big to be touched in an intimate way. For them, if there is a God, how can we really know him. He is just too big to know. How can anyone know the God of existence, for even a small amount of knowledge about the trillions of galaxies, and the trillions of stars within them, and the trillions of light years between the heavenly bodies declares that God is too big to be touched, too big to be intimate, too big to be known. I believe that is where most people live. The religiously uninvolved pretty much go their own way day-by-day, without attempting involvement with an unknowable God. On the other hand, many religious communities derive meaning and connection with this unknowable God by performing ritualistic ceremonies. Through these daily, weekly, yearly perfunctory ceremonies they satisfy their religious requirements to please this distant deity. Even Christians sometimes get into the mode of attending church and performing specific rituals to please this distant God.

But Jesus said, “Who touched my clothes?” Who is asking something from me, believing that I can and will give it to her? Who is in this crowd that REALLY believes I am the God of the universe and I WISH TO DO WELL for her? Jesus knew that some of his creative power went out of him. Some of his power to create the universe, the galaxies, the stars, went out of him. When the woman came forward, Jesus didn't say "woman" or "person", He called her "daughter." He could have called her "child," for those who move into a relationship of faith with the One that the world sees as the unknowable God, move into a family relationship with God himself. Because of their faith, they reflect the image of God; therefore, they are readily seen by God himself as "daughter", "son," or "child" in the family of God. We Christians are those people, his beloved family. We have moved beyond knowing the unmovable God as just the Great Creator, The Beginning of All Life, The Existence. We have moved into a place of relationship with the God of the universe. WE HAVE MOVED INTO THE RELATIONSHIP OF CALLING GOD, "ABBA FATHER." I know sometimes during trials or struggles, we may find it hard to imagine that we have a heavenly Father who truly cares about our circumstances, but that is our reality and that is why we have life within us. Christ came to dwell within those who would believe that He is and accept him by faith. As surely as Abraham was chosen to carry God's message to the world, so are we, who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord, chosen to carry this message that God himself has come down to earth to save and to heal the land. Yes, there were many people around Jesus that day, for there were many in the crowd, but there was only one that touched his hem, believing that the God of the universe had come to restore her. She left in peace, freed from her suffering.

Mark 5:21-24

Mark 5:21-24 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.

Mark 5:34-43 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

This is a great story, one that reveals that Jesus had power over death. Jesus' journey to Jairus' house to heal his Jairus' daughter was interrupted by the incident with the woman who had bleeding problems. Jesus heals her, but then finds out that Jairus' daughter is now dead. Instead of quitting his journey to Jairus' house, He tells the synagogue ruler not to be afraid, just believe that God can do great things. This must have been very difficult for Jairus, but he carried on with Jesus under those instructions. Today, there are many who are sick, some of them with dire diseases. Some of these people will die today. Probably all of them cried out to God in some way for their deliverance from death. However, they will die. Does God still heal? Yes, he does. He will always be in the creating business, and sometimes we are the recipients of that creating. But all of us are designated to die. Because of sin, we are all sentenced to death. None of us can predict accurately when we are going to die. But we will all die. Doesn't God care. Yes, he cared so much that he sent his Son to free us from sin and death. He sent his son to make us well. But when? As soon as we are believers, we have become free from sin and death. We in our day are consumed with the idea of escaping death, and rightly so, for we are flesh. But in the day of the apostles of the early church, they chose Jesus over death. By that I mean, when they accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, they knew their lives were in danger of being terminated. They knew that a sentence of death was placed on their lives as soon as they became believers. But, they chose Jesus Christ over death. They counted their lives as being worthless, not worthy to be protected.

Notice in the above passage, Jesus tells the caretakers of this little girl to give her something to eat. To sustain the life that was within her, she needed food. We all need food, rest, and exercise to sustain the life within us, but that is not the eternal life within us. We are eternal beings, and as eternal beings, we will always chose Jesus Christ over the desires of this life. And the chief desire of this life is to maintain it. Yes, we should pray for healings, we should believe for them. We should have faith in God that He can do anything. That is our position as believers. But as God's children, we will always chose him over death. We will always choose his life, over our temporal life. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55) We are free from the sting of death. We are God's child whether we die in the flesh today or tomorrow. For we are eternal beings sown from incorruptible seed.

Mark 5:18-20

Mark 5:18-20 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

Do we have a testimony or do we have a prayer request? Sometimes I believe the church is more into prayer requests than into testimonies. Maybe we should emphasize testimonies more in our gatherings. We sometimes are better at counting all our burdens and troubles than we are at enumerating our blessings. Jesus told the man who had been demon-possessed, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” This is a direct order. Jesus did not want the man to follow him around as a servant, as a helper; he wanted him to give his testimony to his own people, to those who knew what he was like when he was demon possessed. He wanted the people to hear about the mercy and the power of the Lord. He wanted the people to be amazed. For now out of the lips of a man who spoke only vile and degrading words, came the words of redemption and blessing. Jesus knew this contrast would make the people amazed. He knew that this transformation would bring glory to God.

How much more in this day should we be talking about God's blessings and deliverances. Many of us in this last year have been transformed, many of us have heard God's voice more clearly. Many of us have seen changes in our family that are positive. We should proclaim those victories. We should tell the people around us of God's goodness and mercy. Yes, Jesus redirected the man away from following him back to his family and friends. That was where the work was to be done. That is where the testimony was to be shared. Jesus knew that this man would be carrying the "Good News" back to a darkened land. He knew this would be a great light, one that could not be snuffed out. We, too, have a testimony to share. We, too, have a word of encouragement for the lost. We should share our testimonies gladly, and we should share our victories with our fellow believers and others. As many of you know, Jacqueline and I moved a year ago last August, and right when we moved the bottom dropped out of the housing market. Instead of being able to quickly sell our home in Auburn, it took us well over a year. During that year, we lost a lot of money and our faith was tested. But God kept telling us to trust him. Then on the day that the stock market fell 800 points, on that impossible day when the consultants were saying on the TV, "Don't buy a house," we received an offer on our home. All our neighbors knew this was a miracle, and we have been able to share this "good news" with many people since that time. Sharing a good report with believers strengthens their resolve in dealing with life's struggles, and it is a sign to unbelievers that God answers prayers when things look impossible. We all have had miracles in our lives. May we be bold to share these blessings and to encourage those around us who need built up in their faith today.

Mark 5:9-17

Mark 5:9-17 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man — and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” The demons controlled this man's tongue. He was their instrument for destruction and mayhem. He was theirs to try to lay waste to the lives around him. And for sure he was theirs to lay waste to his own life. The demons were in control of his physical body and his mind. When Jesus cast out the demons, they left his body and the man was in his right mind. He was no longer the demons' instrument, their possession. We Christians are not demon possessed, for the blood of Christ protects us from that, but we may be not in our RIGHT MINDS sometimes, for we might be trying to be many personalities and not true to ourselves. We might be like the insecure high school teenager who is playing many roles to find acceptance. We might consider ourselves to be named Legion because we may be many personalities for many insecure reasons. Of course all of us fulfill many different roles to satisfy the demands upon our lives. Women are wives, mothers, sisters, companions, workers, professionals, housekeepers, bookkeepers, chauffeurs, etc. Men have their own equally demanding and varied roles. All these responsibilities are important. However, sometimes we are like the juggler with all the balls up in the air, knowing some day when they start to come down, we will not be able to handle them all successfully.

We live under constant stress, trying to please others or ourselves. We are trying so hard to be successful in every area of our lives. We play the roles as best as we can. We put up the best facade we can to hide the insecure person behind the roles. Our everyday concerns--financial, relational, parental, religious, societal--bind us to anxiety, doubt, fear, and depression as surely as Legion was bound by demon possession. When Jesus comes to us and asks, “What is your name?” We reply, “My name is Legion. I carry many roles, many personalities, and I am filled with anxiety about my life, for I don't know whether I can make it." Then scripturally Jesus says, "Are you not more important than the sparrows? Do not be afraid, for God takes care of the sparrows, and He will take care of you, my precious child." If we can believe that, our relatives and close associates, those we meet each day, will be amazed to see Legion (us) sitting there, dressed and in his (our) right mind. This tranquil condition made the people of that day afraid, for the world is not in their right minds. When people see us at peace, even though we carry many roles, some very difficult, they will be awed as well, for this condition is not natural in our overly busy world, especially in the 21st Century with so many demands on our lives. Jesus said, "My peace, I give you. . ." Today, we have peace enough to meet our needs with peace leftover to share with others who are caught in the same juggling game.

Mark 5:1-8

Mark 5:1-8 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”

Jesus came to deliver this man, not to torture him. This man was heinously captivated by evil spirits. His life was bound by them more than chains and fetters could bind his physical being. He was not in his right mind; he had no hope of a future; he was living amongst the tombs; his productive life had been destroyed. Now, he was merely existing. The pressures of this world for him were just to survive: to make it through each day with sufficient shelter and food. We Christians sometimes get befuddled in our thinking and live as those who are captivated by evil spirits. We, too, find ourselves living unproductive lives amongst the tombs of the world, thinking only about the pressures of survival. We live finite lives based on what is temporary. As sure as the demonic man was bound, we are bound by our own worldly thoughts and self-centered inclinations. But Jesus came to set us free. Yes, we will always have the daily struggles. Paul had these struggles; he enumerates them very clearly in 2 Corinthians 6:1-10, where Paul reminds us, "now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation." Even though in his own journey he endured much, he was not bound by the circumstances in his life. His daily mission remained an eternal one. Although he experienced many trials, his self-esteem was high, for he knew Christ was with him. He was a chosen one, one saved by grace. Paul's life consisted of troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleeplessness, and hunger. Yet, as much as he could within himself, he lived free and at peace in the Lord. Paul's testimony to the Corinthians was, regardless of his personal trials, he lived as every Christian should live: "in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."

We Christians are no longer under the auspices of the devil and his cohorts: WE ARE FREE. Does this mean we live in splendor and at ease, without struggles? No, it just means that our spirits are free to serve God. We are free from sin and death. We are no longer bound by the evil one. We don't have to follow the inclinations and desires of the world and demonic powers. We are free to be the peculiar people mentioned in the Bible: God's elect. The world thinks we are captivated by "religion." They think our lives are sterile and wasted. But they are mistaken. When Jesus walks on the shore of our lives, we are set free to be all we can be IN THE SPIRIT. Otherwise, we can be what God has made us to be: his beloved children. The demons thought Jesus was there primarily to torture them, but He was actually there to deliver a man from their clutches. We who are in Christ have been delivered from the evil world of sin and darkness. Jesus, the light, now walks with us. He delivers us from our depression and deprecation; He unfetters and unchains us. Paul said, "now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation." Christ subdues that which we can't. He makes the day sunny when we can't. He brings new life when we can't. Today, while it is today, let each of us reclaim our freedom in Christ by sinking into him, by staying close to him, by stating everything in faith. We no longer are alone. Let us walk beside the water with him and do what He calls us to do in faith believing, knowing the light has come.

Mark 4:35-41

Mark 4:35-41 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

There were also other boats with him. Which boat would we rather be in? The one that Jesus was in or one of the other boats? Do you still have no faith?” Faith in what? Sometimes we need to know which boat we are in. Some of us are in the boat of security. Some of us are in the boat of good health. Some of us are in the boat of friends. Some of us are in the boat of family. Some of us are in the boat of work. Whatever boat brings the most security to our lives is the boat that we choose as our primary place to abide. Which boat are you in or are you in several of these boats, hoping that a broad foundation will give you the protection and stability you need? One fact of life remains: all these boats are going to face the storms of life. Finally, a day will come when you will be the only person in the boat; no earthly friend will be able to cross over with you from this life to the next and no recognition you have earned during your life with give you the strength to take those final steps. Your faith will have to be in something more than just the people or things in the boat. You will need to have faith in something beyond yourself and your boat(s).

Jesus showed the disciples that He was the master of the elements. The elements could not destroy them while Jesus was with them. He revealed that the spirit world has control of the physical. So is it with our beings. We are not just a composite of the elements of this world; we are spiritual beings that supersede all that is physical. As long as Jesus is in our boat, we are eternally safe. We are exposed to the full force of the physical elements, and yes, sometimes the seas are rough, and we don't understand the circumstances. But we are not to be afraid, for the eternal is with us, in us. He is in the boat. If Christ is with us, then we are never alone, even on that final day. What faith should the disciples have had? They needed the faith that He is in the boat, that he is the Son of God and will protect those He loves. This is true with us. This should be our faith: He is in the boat. Our lives are not lived alone; they are lived with him in the boat. That is why we walk with him, converse with him, laugh with him, share everything with him. For He is always in the boat. Live your life today by faith, knowing that He is with you. You are not left alone to face the storms with self-assurance and self-strength. No, He goes with you, sits beside you, and speaks to the storm when He feels the time is right, "Quiet! Be still." Put your trust in him. Lean on him. Do not try to face the storm alone, but let him be your strength. Rest in him right now.

Mark 4:29-32

Mark 4:29-32 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

John 12:23-26 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

The SEED has come, and the SEED has died. Christ Jesus has come, He died, BUT HE IS RISEN. We are the church, the emerging plant, which is found in the risen Christ. We are now known as the body of Christ. From that SEED'S demise, we, the children of God, have been created. Jesus Christ's death and his subsequent resurrection have brought in the Kingdom of God, a place where God abides on this earth. He abides in us because THE SEED'S WORKS have made us holy. God will not occupy a place of sin because He is righteous, and no shadow is within him. God is life; sin is death. God is light; sin is darkness. We, as the body of Christ, the great mustard plant in the garden of God's creation, have been designed to create seeds of righteousness and goodness in this dying world. As his body, we take on his capacity, his likeness, his life-giving strength. But, we, too, must lose our lives, our earthly likeness. We, too, must die: die to ourselves, our earthly aspirations, our desires. We are not to seek our own will, but HIS WILL. Our lives, our homes, our aspirations, our spirits, should REFLECT HIM. As with the body of Christ, the church, our personal dwelling places should be peaceful sanctuaries, places where the COMFORTER abides. The birds of the air, the restless of the world, should find solace and "shade" from the burning sun and the turmoil of this world. God's will is also to seek the lost; we should be about the business of seeking the lost. All of these activities are the signs following those who have been made alive as a result of their new resurrected life in Christ.

The fruit of our lives should be the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5:22-24) The sinful nature of man is self-serving, disruptive, and destructive. If we serve ourselves and do not die, we will definitely produce the wrong kind of fruit, and we will not pass on from generation to generation the good fruit of the Lord, the works of heaven. And sadly to say, we will be known in heaven as unfruitful and ungrateful children. The works of the Lord are the works of the Spirit. These works cannot become a reality if we serve ourselves, if our lives are lived for what we can get for ourselves, if we are living to be ALL THAT WE CAN BE, AND NOT ALL THAT HE CAN BE IN US. Jesus said, "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." We must die as He did, lose our life as He did. We must find new life as He did and serve him as He serves the Father. Where He is, we will be also. No other life is eternal; all other life ends in death separated from God. Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. Praise God my brethren, let us not be that SINGLE SEED, BUT LET US BE KNOWN AS THE FRUITFUL ONES, THE FAMILY OF GOD AND LIFE ETERNAL.

Mark 4:26-29

Mark 4:26-29 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain — first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Mercy and Grace grows out of Jesus Christ, THE SEED planted for all mankind. Unless a seed falls into the ground and DIES there is no plant, no Kingdom of God. Jesus came not only as the door, He came as the seed. We exist spiritually and eternally because of what He did, not because of what we do, except that we follow after him. We now are part of the Kingdom because we have placed our faith in him. We are now recognized by God as righteous and truly alive because of Jesus' finished work at the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Sin brought death. Sin brought termination and judgement, but righteousness in and through Jesus Christ brought eternal life and right relationship with God. We now have a home, and it isn't on this earth. We now have a home in the bosom of God. We now have a spiritual inheritance, which is God himself. We are like the Levite priests. We are not allocated land as our inheritance; we are given God as our legacy. We no longer dance alone, we dance with him. We no longer sing alone, we sing with him. We no longer walk alone, we walk with him. We no longer lie down alone, we lie with him. We are no longer strangers in an alien world, we are with him. We are greatly blessed, for we have come from THE SEED.

Therefore, sing and shout with exceeding great joy, you people of the Lord. Sing and shout for the mercy of God has birthed you from the loins of Jesus. You have hope, you have a future, you have life, for you are found in him, whom to know is life everlasting. You were blind and now you see; you were lost and now you are found; you were dead in trespasses and sin and now you are alive. The great mystery is that He is in us and we are in him. We abide within the circle, the whirlwind of the Old Testament, the wheel within the wheel. Praise God, all you saints of the Lord, praise him forevermore! The sower of the seed has brought forth a mighty harvest.

Mark 4:21-24

Mark 4:21-24 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you — and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

To me this is a very dangerous scripture, if we do not rightly discern it, one that should be considered carefully. Some Christians or Christian organizations may use this scripture on light to justify exposing corruption, sin, and deception in OTHERS. It can be used to criticize, tear apart, and condemn others, for doesn't it say, "For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open." However, I believe this message has more do to with oneself than it does about judging someone else's life. If that is true, it corresponds well with the following scriptures: "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you — who are you to judge your neighbor?" (James 4:11) "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2) "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37) Jesus is the light of the World. John chapter 1 reveals that light came into the world, but the world comprehended it not. They did not recognize Jesus as the light, but his very presence and teachings revealed light had come into the world. The demons recognized this immediately. Whatever was concealed or hidden was quickly exposed. The wicked and sinful of this world hated him, for He brought light into their darkened hearts. The Pharisees and the Scribes despised him, for He revealed their whitened sepulcher existence: holy on the outside, corrupt on the inside.

The above scriptures say, “Consider carefully what you hear,” or perhaps better, consider carefully the light you take in and how you use it. For you will be accountable to the light you have received. God will measure your life by that light, and even more. If your life reflects light, even more will be given. If your life displays darkness, even the light you have will be taken away. I put these two teachings together as one because I feel they are related. If the light you have been given is used to destroy, maim, hurt people--if you find your mouth constantly criticizing, judging, tearing down, then you need to consider the fruit of your life, the scope of your personal light. If you are walking in darkness, your life is probably being lived as a depressed person, maybe as a lonely or dysfunctional person. But if your life is is bringing light to people, then your generosity, joy, peace, and the quietness of your spirit will be known to all men. You will be honored by God: He will give you even more light to spread to the world. You will become a brighter light in a dark place. Consequently, your presence will positively reveal darkness and that which is concealed. But if you bring darkness, judgement, and condemnation into every situation, you will be known as a hypocrite and will be judged harshly by the world; and God will judge you by your own words. The world quickly recognizes its own spirit of darkness. Jesus exposed this spirit in the hearts of the Jewish leaders, hearts of corruption and turmoil. But praise God--we are no longer as those who stumble in the dark, who hear and do not obey. First John says if we walk in the light as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, and we have fellowship with one another. As a result, we do consider carefully what we hear, and we do respond as people of the light, children of the Most HIgh. And we let our light shine before all mankind.

Mark 4:13-20

Mark 4:13-20 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop — thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

God is the sower, and He sows an abundance of seed, so much so that it falls onto various types of ground: along the path, rocky places, amongst thorns, and on good soil. God's Word, his seed, is being sown all of the time. Some of his seed is gobbled up by Satan before it germinates. The father of lies tells people along the path that God's Word cannot be true: it is impossible, a myth, a fairy tale; that God is not there; that Jesus is not the Son. Therefore, people along the path carry on with their activities of the world without ever experiencing real life. Some people, who exist on rocky ground, venture from one activity to another without commitment, without a care in the world. They are dabblers, not producers. When they decide to dabble in Christianity, they receive the Word with gladness, for a new thing has come into their lives. They are filled with joy and happiness for a while, but when commitment or a sustaining a walk or roots are needed, they are not there. They walk away, for any trouble, any persecution, will discourage them. They want to GET THE MOST OUT OF LIFE; THEY DON'T WANT TO MAKE A LIFE. No good fruit will come from their lives because they will abandon the mission of producing life. Their life in Christ, their fruit, will dry up. Other seed falls in productive soil, but weeds are there also. Their lives are self-centered. The cares of this world and their ambition to succeed in this world stunt their growth. They soon find their hearts are more in this world than in Christ. The things of Christ are crowded out and grow dim. They don't need the church; they don't need the community of believers anymore. They stop praying. They don't receive sustenance from the Word, but from the World. They become unfruitful because doubt and unbelief fill their minds. Sadly to say, they are even in danger of losing their children to the world. Lastly, some seed falls on good soil. The seed germinates in this soil; its roots go down deep within the soil. Troubles, trials, wealth, ambition do not overcome this plant. This plant flourishes throughout life's journey. Each day brings a new challenge, but each challenge is met successfully through faith. This plant produces much fruit, even a hundred times what was sown.

The question is, what kind of life are we living? Are we the unbeliever, the doubter? Are we the rootless plant, the carefree plant, living for today and for nothing else? Are we the plant that is hooked into this world big time? Is it all about me and my plans? Or are we the plant that produces good fruit, fruit that will help others, fruit that will reflect God's goodness and mercy? Yes, seed is sown all of the time. Yes, we receive this seed regardless of where we are. However, no matter what our surroundings are or our particular nature, we are still autonomous beings who have a will and the ability to choose. We can allow the Holy Spirit to soften the soil of our hearts and to bring forth a wonderful harvest of the fruit of the Spirit. We can decide to build our lives on a solid foundation. Jesus uses another parable of building on the rock to explain this concept. We can build on his Word, on him. We can have a life that will exist successfully through every care, every want, every trouble, every wayward thought. We can have a structure that will last. This structure comes through faith in Jesus Christ and his work. THIS STRUCTURE IS BUILT ON THE ROCK--JESUS CHRIST IS THAT ROCK. Therefore, regardless of where you are, lift your head up this day and build your life on Jesus Christ. He will never ever fail you!

Mark 4:1-12

Mark 4:1-12 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

This passage reveals the supernatural nature of the scriptures. Obviously, everyone listening to Jesus had ears, but only some would hear with their faith-ears. All those who wanted Jesus to explain explicitly the kingdom of God were not going to hear clearly. Jesus was not going to allow them to hear as they would want to hear. Even today, people say, if only God would show himself plainly to us, if only He would explain logically the rationale of what he is doing in the physical and spiritual domains of life, then we would believe. God, if only you would push this faith thing off the table and deal with us in an intellectual, empirical manner, then we would follow you. But God is immensely quiet when we make such requests. Even though many of us see God in nature or in the vastness of space, He is not truly discovered there. The Bible indicates that which is, is not, and that which is not, is. Otherwise, God is a spirit. I believe Jesus is saying in the above passage, I don't want you to, and I will never allow you to, circumvent faith; you will never be allowed to enter the kingdom of God exclusively through your rational, intellectual mind. If you did so, then you would take credit for your salvation. Then God would not be the good God of mercy and grace; He would be the Lord who benefits people according to their abilities to understand the intricacies of the Spirit world. They would enter the kingdom of God on their own merit. Salvation would not be a gift of God--it would be the product of WORKS, man's efforts to know and find him. No, everyone must come by faith. No man will be forgiven because he found God through his own special insight and wisdom. God will not share his glory with any man, and if a man can say I found God because I am just a little smarter than the rest of mankind, God has to share his glory with that man. In today's passage we hear Jesus saying He wants the arrogant person to be ever seeing, and ever hearing, but NOT UNDERSTANDING THE THINGS OF GOD. He does not want to forgive man on man's terms.

People often struggle with the irrationality of life. Why do good people sometimes die early? Why is there suffering in the world, especially with the young and innocent? Why are there wars? Why do bad people often become rich and successful, whereas the righteous may live in poverty and ignominy? Why don't peace and health reign in the kingdoms of the world, rather than sin and sickness? Even Christians sit and ponder these unanswerable questions. We know there is a God, for we have experienced him in our hearts; we know He is good. However, his authority sometimes seems ineffectual here on earth, his presence so far from the daily happenings of life. Some of us do get discouraged: we just can't figure out the justice of the system. We feel righteousness and goodness should be rewarded: our loved ones should not be getting sick, our friend should not be ill unto death, our lives and the lives of our children should be prosperous, and definitely our own health should be great. Aren't we followers of the Creator, the Lover of our souls, He who can do anything? But God is never going to short circuit the avenue of faith. “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17) If our Christian lives paid off big, if we were the richest people on earth, the healthiest people on the earth, if we lived the longest, who would not follow Jesus? Then, any reasonable thinking person would follow him. But Jesus said, I am going to talk to them in parables. They are going to have to follow me by faith. Their faith-ears will need to be functioning. If they have ears to hear, they will understand my words. Then these parables will be food to their spiritual lives. But to those on the outside, those with natural ears, my words will confuse them. My words will be sawdust in their mouths, lacking nourishment to sustain their lives. They will be lost in the darkness of their own thinking--for their wisdom and intellect has betrayed them. May we choose light, walk in light, and share the light while it is yet day.

Mark 3:20-21; 31-35

Mark 3:20-21; 31-35 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” -- Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Does Jesus honor his mother when he refuses to immediately respond to her request for him to come to her? We see Jesus again breaking one of the Ten Commandments by not revealing to the men around him how much he honors his own mother by obeying her. He places his birth mother into a general category of many mothers, those who did not expend their energy to raise him. These other mothers seemingly are just as important to him as his own mother. We see Jesus in the above passage breaking the Old Testament Law's standards, for Jesus knows He is the fulfillment of the Covenant that was given to Abraham 430 years prior to the Law. Jesus is the Promised Seed, the one who will bring righteousness to all nations, all people. Through him all of mankind who accept him by faith will be blessed, and they will truly be the children of God. "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:25-29) Jesus tells these people that those who do God's will are his brothers and sisters and MOTHERS. Those who place their trust and faith in him are God's people, and God is not just the Father of the Old Testament people, He is the Father of all people who will do HIS WILL, which is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

When the Law, which was to establish righteousness, was given, God promised the Children of Israel that He would perform wonders in their midst to verify that He was with them, protecting them, identifying them as his people. "Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you." (Exodus 34:10) And the Lord God did this: the Children of Israel experienced many miracles. When Jesus came, He performed many wonders and miracles to verify He was the Son of God, the SEED OF WHICH the first covenant spoke. He came with signs and wonders, so the people would see, listen, and believe. Jesus fulfilled the covenant with Abraham; He satisfied the Law by being perfect; He took on the wrath of God which was intended for sinful people. "Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:7) He literally gave righteousness to the unrighteous. He completed the vision that God had for man. He, Jesus, the Great Creator, recreated man in God's image. This, of course, is all accomplished through faith in Jesus Christ and his works of righteousness. Jesus' mother, father, brothers and sisters are no longer just those who are defined by the Law. No, they are those, the whosoever will, who believe in Jesus as their personal Savior. Therefore Jesus' words in today's text were not meant to be a rejection of his birth family; they were meant to be inclusive, to show to all the reality of his Father's plan and Christ's mission: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Mark 3:22-30

Mark 3:22-30 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”

The key to the above passage is the last clause: “He has an evil spirit.” Jesus is warning them that they cannot get away with saying that good originates from evil. The Spirit of God motivated Jesus to do what He was doing. Before Jesus was baptized, He did not perform these good works, but after the Spirit consumed (filled) him, his life became a message from God to the fullest extent, even to his death. He brought God's grace and mercy to the people by performing good works. "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him." (Matthew 3:16) Jesus was baptized by the Holy Spirit; He was full of the Holy Spirit; therefore, He performed the works of the Holy Spirit. Jesus went around doing good: healing people, casting out demons, performing miracles, and teaching about God's goodness. In the above passage, Jesus uses a parable to reveal to the "teachers of the law" that they can make fun of him, make fun of his ministry, and even make fun of God, but they dare not make fun of the Holy Spirit's work. Otherwise, they cannot say that the good Jesus is doing originates from evil, for if they do, there is no other way possible for their restoration to God. They "will never be forgiven." Jesus is saying to them, "Beelzebub is not doing these good works of mine, the Holy Spirit is. The devil hates me and the good works I perform. He knows I am releasing the people from the prison of sin and death. He knows his exclusive reign on Earth has come to the end." Jesus was emphatically telling the "teachers of the law that the works they are seeing him perform are the HOLY SPIRIT'S WORKS to free people from the bondage. If people reject that message and claim it is from the devil, they have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, and they cannot be saved. If they willingly reject THE HOLY SPIRIT'S LIGHT (Jesus' good works) and call it sin, they have no other way to God. Jesus is telling the "teachers of the law" that the work He is doing is the work of God's Spirit, and they better not reject or ridicule the Spirit's work.

When people of the world accept Jesus as a man of good works, they are not dishonoring the work of the Holy Spirit, for they are not classifying Jesus' works as of the devil or bad. However, they do not rightly discern who He truly is, and their eyes need to be opened. Many times troubled Christians believe that they somehow have dishonored the Holy Spirit. They might have strayed from God by following after the world and its attractions. They might have criticized Jesus and maybe even rejected his work in them, but the fact that they still recognize Jesus Christ as being good and not evil, and that his works (The Holy Spirit's Works) are good and not evil, places them far from sinning against the Holy Spirit. Even the anxiety they feel about whether they have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit reveals that they accept somewhere in their consciousness that Jesus' works were divine, not evil. Why is sinning against the Holy Spirit so devastating? Well, if you think evil is good, and good is evil, if you think Jesus' works are evil and not good, you have no way to God. In such a state, the way to God is opaque, for evil brings darkness; it closes the door to light; it closes the door to salvation. But that is not true for the people who read this. You would not be reading this breakfast if that were true. Your heart and mind would be darkened and hardened, and you would not be seeking God's kingdom or wanting to grow in his love and to hide more of his Word in your heart if you had truly rejected the Holy Spirit. Rejoice today because God loves you and seeks to fulfill his will in your life.