Another great message from Ben Stuart. Just subscribe to them. It takes me like 2 hours to get through them because i take very meticulous, word for word notes, as you know, but they are only 30 minutes long, just do yourself a favor.
This weeks message was about the Jewish tradition of washing before you eat, and how Jesus puts the Pharisees in there place about it. Its also about how filthy and full of sin we are, something everyone needs to hear, and hear in a way that offends us, because we need to be offended about this and we need to realize that everything we do to justify our guilty conscience offends God. You can study theology till the cows come home, but God knows your heart. Also, at the end of the day, we don't have to be covered in shame anymore, because Jesus fulfilled the law for us, and became our sin.
So if you get something out of my horrible summary, awesome, but this is something that everyone needs to hear. So i ask you, that if you only take time to listen to one of these, make it this one. Im so tempted not to post my notes, but im not so naive to think that will make you go listen to this. So they'll follow, because if your not going to seriously listen to me and go subscribe to these, i have to try and get you to at least hear this.
before you read my notes, it'd probably be idea to read the verses first, just for the back story. Its pretty short.
Coming Clean
Mark 7:1-23
-The Pharisees come to pick a fight with Jesus. They are looking for confrontation.
-They notice that some of the disciples are eating with defiled hands (unwashed hands).
-The Jews don’t eat unless they wash their hands, holding true to the traditions of the elders. The disciples aren’t following any of the traditional rituals.
-Mark is explaining what Jews do, so that tells us that the audience he’s speaking to aren’t Jewish, they’re gentiles.
-2 things you need to catch:
1. The washing of the hands thing before you eat isn’t about germs. Its about defilement. Defilement in this case means “common.” To be put out for common use. The opposite of being holy. This was merely a ceremonial ritual to show you were pure before God.
2. This ritual is not a mandate from scripture. They are getting this from the traditions of man. There were cleanliness laws in the old testament, but what they’re talking about here isn’t from the old testament. The only group of guys who had to wash their hands in the presence of God were priests. The Pharisees wanted to surpass the priests in terms of zeal for holiness for God. So therefore everything that is mandated for a priest is mandated for us and everyone else. Everyone not only has to wash their hands when they go to the temple, but every time they eat anything. By 3rd century A.D., Israel had made this a law.
-Back to the point, Jesus’ disciples weren’t doing it.
-The Pharisees ask “Why aren’t they following the traditions of the elders?” they make it sound so important. The way tradition worked back then was that the bible had mandates, but where the bible didn’t speak, the elders would.
-The way they asked Jesus why was more of a “We see your disciples are defiled, and we were wondering why your cool with that?” No dialogue here, only an accusation.
-In Jesus’ response in verses 6-13, he never talks about washing hands. He’s going to cut to the heart of the issue.
-Verse 6. “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites…” Jesus is calling them hypocrites. Have you ever called anyone a hypocrite? That’s usually the bombshell moment of a conversation. But when Jesus opens his argument with it, this is just his warm up. Then he quotes Isaiah 29. “This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
-Jesus isn’t denigrating the bible. He’s saying you guys arent taking the words of God seriously enough. You are putting the commandments of men before the commandments of God. You are putting the words of God and the religious ideas of some guy next to each other, and where they don’t agree, you go with this guy. God is not impressed by your religious game.
-Next, he quotes Moses. “Honor your father and mother”, and, “He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.”
-Response: Verses 11-13.
-”Corban”- given to God.
-We were meant to honor our parents. You get into this situation where some guy looks at his parents and says whatever I was going to use for your benefit, your aging, you need me to take care of you, but whatever I was going to give to you, I declare ‘Corban’ (or given to God) . When you declare something corban, that doesn’t mean you give it away, that means that no one else can use it. So this guy is saying to his parents, “I was going to take care you when you get older, but I gave everything to God.” Then the elders come to him and say they when you vow things corban, you are no longer allowed to take care of your parents when they’re older.”
-Jesus says the heartbeat of God is to care for people. A clear law of God, and you guys are finding ways to bend scripture to fit your selfishness. And next he says, ‘you guys do this stuff all the times, you make void the word of God by your tradition.’
-Jesus’ assessment of these people: You guys are playing a religion game. But you know what your religion is? You found a way to bend scripture to justify your own selfishness, that’s your religion.
-God’s assessment: That’s worthless. Not just worthless, offensive, hypocritical.
-The tough thing about this text? The Pharisees aren’t the only ones who do this. We do this. All the time. We come up with a way of framing religion in a way that justifies whatever we want to do.
-we get busy, and we quit every avenue in which we had a way to take care of people.
-Examples: quitting a youth group for homework or sports. Quitting a bible study because that’s your only “free day”. Quitting a volunteer organization because you think it takes up to much of your time.
-you took a position somewhere to help people and you blow them off so you can study more?
-are you cutting out T.V. video games too? Call it ‘stewardship’ but all your doing is punting obligations to do whatever you want. Its just selfishness.
-take sex before marriage. You love your significant other, what really is marriage anyway but a ring and a bunch of people watching? All that matters is love.
-Ok sure, but did you forget about the honoring your parents thing? Like her parents, and yours? Forget about the institution that God ordained of marriage to be a picture of his church before the world, your blowing all that off, but your doing this because God says its ok? Lets just be honest about it. You just want to get layed. Just say that, don’t make it sound spiritual.
-We’ve created a religious game to play, and we do it to suit what we’re good at.
-Studying theology might be your thing, but it doesn’t do anything if you don’t care and love for people.
-We carve out a ‘Christianity’ that makes us look good.
-JESUS DOES NOT LIKE THIS! And that should be a devastating critique for us.
-Next Jesus looks to the people, he’s done with the Pharisees. (Verses 14-23)
-He says ‘hear me and understand me, it’s not what goes in, it what comes out.’ and then he leaves. That’s the sermon. So the disciples go with him, and they ask what he meant by that.
-Whatever goes into a person from the outside can’t defile them, but the things that come out do. What you eat doesn’t matter, because it doesn't touch your heart. The external things arent the problem, its what’s going on in your heart.
-the problem is that you have something wrong with your heart.
-Jesus and the Pharisees do agree about one thing. That we are all defiled.
-The Pharisees just thought that we could manage it with some external activities. Jesus says no, you have no idea how deep the stain goes.
-Verses 21-23. ‘From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts…’
-Every evil thing we do starts with an evil thought. And out of that comes sexual immorality, you take from people, you covet, your not honest with people, you gloss things over to make them sound good.
-you are foolish, meaning morally or spiritually insensitive. It means you arent even seeking to know the heart of God.
-you have got to be honest with yourself. You are defiled. Not because of what you’ve done, but because of what rises up in your heart. And we don’t like hearing that, so we do what the Pharisees did, we find a way to try to cover it over.
-some people dive into theology to cover it up. THEOLOGY WILL NOT MAKE YOU CLEAN.
-some people work so hard in Christian organizations solely because they are trying to make themselves look ok.
-you can be as passionate about evangelism as you want, but most people do it to justify themselves.
-we push so hard into ‘busyness’ because we are trying to block out the voices that are telling us we’re guilty.
-some of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, all these things we do, we do them because we are trying to outrun the condemnation that is on our heels, telling us that we are not ok, and most of us, if we’re honest, we feel it. We feel dirty.
-Jesus tells us we are defiled, and the external things didn’t do it, nor can they fix it. And Mark ends this text there. That’s a pretty devastating place to leave people.
-The interesting thing about Mark though, is that he does this all the time. He ends these stories with total cliffhangers. He does it to bother you, to make you think ‘what am I supposed to do to fix it!’ the reality is there is a little sentence in there that tells us how to fix it. You probably didn’t think much about it. Verse 19: because it does not enter his heart, but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods
-Jesus is changing the law there. He took the dietary codes, not just in tradition, but in the actually law and he said 'these things about what your supposed to do and not, they aren’t true anymore. I declare all foods clean.'
-whats interesting about that is later, Jesus says that he didn’t come to abolish law. He came to fulfill it.
-you and I aren’t ok before God, we are defiled. And we can’t fix us, and the law condemns us. Jesus comes to fulfill it on our behalf.
-In Zechariah chapter 3, the prophet Zechariah paints a beautiful picture. He gets a vision, he sees the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord. (the high priest represents the jewish people in seeking for atonement). To be a high priest, to go into that one big day of atonement was a pretty big deal. You’d be sequestered for a week, they would ritually bathe you, they’d put you in clean, fine, white linens. You would sacrifice on your behalf, then you wash again, then sacrifice for the people…you went through all these stages to try to show God that you were clean, so that you could walk before God and that you wouldn’t die, so that you could atone for the peoples sin. In Zechariah’s vision, he sees Joshua standing before the Lord, then he sees Satan accusing him. (Zechariah 3:3) Now we see Joshua clothed in filthy garments standing before the angel. ESV says filthy garments, the actual translation is ’garments covered in excrement’s’
-If you’re a Jew, your asking how did he even get there!? How did that even happen? He isn’t clean.
-the idea your getting here is that this is a vision of how God sees his people. The most clean we can get ourselves when we wash is filthy. If we’re honest, we feel this.
-then something shocking happens, it says the Angel said to those who were standing before him “remove the filthy garments from him.” and to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity from you and I will clothe you with pure vestments.
-God says I’m going to come and clean you, you don’t clean you.
-Zechariah 3:8-10 “… For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH…
-the branch is referring to the Messiah
-He says the Messiah will atone for you in a day. (that was shocking because the Jews would come year after year sacrificing animals, and this is saying the Messiah will atone everyone’s sins in one day.) And Joshua is a picture of it.
-How did Jesus do it? He put our defilement on himself. He became sin. He who was totally pure became filthy for us, that we might be robed in fine linen, white and clean.
-So what do you do? You don’t try to come up with a plan to impress God. You come honest and open. You come empty and trust that he has a solution. So we come with hope, because we are no longer covered in shame, because someone else has fulfilled the law for us, and his name is Jesus.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Nashville
Today was one of the better days I've had in a long time! I didn't even mind the whole 4 hours one way travel thing. Me and dad went over to Nashville today to visit Sae Institute.
1. Nashville: Love it. I love that its a big city but its really not that big. I love the energy there. I totally see myself living there for at least while I'm at school. Maybe longer. Me and dad drove around downtown after the open house at Sae and they were filming a music video right outside of Margaritaville and Legends, i wish i new who's video, but just the production crew was there. Ive just always wanted to be somewhere where i could turn a corner and run into an amazing street performer. My family never traveled much so this was my first time in Nashville if you haven't figured that out by now. :)
2.Sae: I can't even tell you how amazing this place was. When we found it we kept driving past it and if you guys don't know where it is, its on Music Circle North, so when you turn the corner there's Sony Productions. On the other side of the street there's GAC. A little further down I about had a major freak out when we passed Curb Records. But anyways, about the school in general. Its just one building, small classes, only about 100 students are enrolled at a time. One big lab for learning Pro Tools/Logic and stations for learning how to use EQ's and stuff, plus that's where we would work on ear training, and if i remember correctly...5 or 6 sound studio labs. and 2 big classrooms. (by the way, speaking of the sound studios, I'm going to have a bunch of mixing projects that I'll need musicians for. FREE STUDIO TIME, it can be solo stuff, bands, whatever, the only thing though is that the further i get in with my knowledge, the more I'll need in the studio at one time, you just have to come to Nashville and hang out in one of the studios with me. I get all rights to finished products, so you'd get your professionally recorded song at the end of the day. Just keep that in mind :) )
One of the boards they just bought they were telling us about was shipped in from Oxford. It was used to mix for Elton John. Another board they have, their most advanced board, which is literally bigger than my living room couch, they bought from Whitney Houston. They also have an old analog board that records on the old 2 inch tape that they used before computers were used.
The coolest thing about the school though. The senior lecturer is from somewhere just outside Oxford. This dude worked in Abbey Road Studios when the Beatles recorded there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's also mixed for Queen, Meatloaf, The Who, STYX, tons of other huge names that I can't remember now, he's also done movie tracks for 40 Year Old Virgin and a couple others. He's also a trained classical guitarist, so he has these nasty, long, thick nails on his left hand. Ive seen people with a couple long nails for guitar, but it was every finger on his left hand. Dude's legit. Blew my mind!
So yeah, as you can tell, I'm beyond excited about my future right now.:)
1. Nashville: Love it. I love that its a big city but its really not that big. I love the energy there. I totally see myself living there for at least while I'm at school. Maybe longer. Me and dad drove around downtown after the open house at Sae and they were filming a music video right outside of Margaritaville and Legends, i wish i new who's video, but just the production crew was there. Ive just always wanted to be somewhere where i could turn a corner and run into an amazing street performer. My family never traveled much so this was my first time in Nashville if you haven't figured that out by now. :)
2.Sae: I can't even tell you how amazing this place was. When we found it we kept driving past it and if you guys don't know where it is, its on Music Circle North, so when you turn the corner there's Sony Productions. On the other side of the street there's GAC. A little further down I about had a major freak out when we passed Curb Records. But anyways, about the school in general. Its just one building, small classes, only about 100 students are enrolled at a time. One big lab for learning Pro Tools/Logic and stations for learning how to use EQ's and stuff, plus that's where we would work on ear training, and if i remember correctly...5 or 6 sound studio labs. and 2 big classrooms. (by the way, speaking of the sound studios, I'm going to have a bunch of mixing projects that I'll need musicians for. FREE STUDIO TIME, it can be solo stuff, bands, whatever, the only thing though is that the further i get in with my knowledge, the more I'll need in the studio at one time, you just have to come to Nashville and hang out in one of the studios with me. I get all rights to finished products, so you'd get your professionally recorded song at the end of the day. Just keep that in mind :) )
One of the boards they just bought they were telling us about was shipped in from Oxford. It was used to mix for Elton John. Another board they have, their most advanced board, which is literally bigger than my living room couch, they bought from Whitney Houston. They also have an old analog board that records on the old 2 inch tape that they used before computers were used.
The coolest thing about the school though. The senior lecturer is from somewhere just outside Oxford. This dude worked in Abbey Road Studios when the Beatles recorded there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's also mixed for Queen, Meatloaf, The Who, STYX, tons of other huge names that I can't remember now, he's also done movie tracks for 40 Year Old Virgin and a couple others. He's also a trained classical guitarist, so he has these nasty, long, thick nails on his left hand. Ive seen people with a couple long nails for guitar, but it was every finger on his left hand. Dude's legit. Blew my mind!
So yeah, as you can tell, I'm beyond excited about my future right now.:)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
"If only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed."
Bart Millard from MercyMe tweeted this link a couple hours ago. Its an excerpt from an interview with Bono about Jesus. His insight is interesting and pretty wise at that, so I thought I'd share. Its not long, so you have no excuse not to read it, unless you have an issue with Bono or U2 or something?
http://www.thepoachedegg.net/the-poached-egg/2010/09/bono-interview-grace-over-karma.html
http://www.thepoachedegg.net/the-poached-egg/2010/09/bono-interview-grace-over-karma.html
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Feeding The Masses.
Got more podcast notes for you. Much like last time, this message is something I've been needing to hear and to be reminded of regularly. Stop trying to fix things myself and let God handle it. Especially the "God-sized" problems, they are completely out of my control. This is one of the most important things God wants us to know, but i think its the one we forget about the most because we are taught nowadays that being dependent is a bad thing. We are all dependent on God, and he's not going to let you forget it.
Feeding The Masses
Mark 6:7-52
This story is about a revolution. Much like the one happening in the middle east right now.
-the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle performed in the gospels.
His Revolution
-the apostles (only time term “apostle” is used in the bible) return from being sent out by Jesus to go teach and heal. The crowds followed them back. Jesus took the disciples out to the wilderness to rest, but they didn’t have time to because the crowds saw their boat and followed them to the banks of the lake. So they get there and there is this massive crowd waiting for them. Jesus felt compassion for them. Text says he saw them as “sheep without a shepherd.”
-Revolutionary statement. A shepherd as been a metaphor all throughout the Jewish culture for the leaders of the people. He looks at this crowd and said they have no leadership. That’s why this part of Mark is laid out so weird with that story about Herod thrown in there.
-Herod used to like John the Baptist, but when Herod married his brothers wife John says to him, “It is not lawful for you to have your brothers wife.” So his wife, Herodias, has had a grudge against him and wanted him put to death, but she couldn’t because Herod feared John. But on his birthday, he hold this banquet for all his rich friends. Herodias’s step daughter in law comes in and she‘s dancing for him, and Herod asked her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” So she asked her mother what she should ask for. She told her, “The head of John the Baptist.” So she went to him and asked, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist in a platter.” At first the Herod told her no, but he didn’t want to break his promise to her so he immediately sent the executioner for his head. (John had been in Jail for the duration to keep him safe from Herodias)
-It seems like one of those “meanwhile” moments in a story. A “this is what happened while they were gone” thing. But its not, it’s a flashback. It was stuck here in the middle of this story because Mark wants to show you the shepherd.
-Herod doesn’t care about his peoples sensibilities. He rules over Galilee, a very religious place. He told his brother divorce your wife, I’m marrying her, and John steps up to try and preach the truth to him. Herod’s confused by him, he fears John, but he also wants to do what he wants to do. So he’s stuck in the middle of his wife wanting him dead and the fact that he kind of likes listening to him. So when Herod gets caught up in the moment with Herodias’s daughter dancing in front of him, he tell her he’ll give her whatever she wants. The irony of this is that he’s not even a king, his dad was king. In his will he specified that none of his kids would rule and he split the kingdom into fourths, and this is just Herod Antipas, the seventh son of Herod the Great. Mark calls him “king” through all of this because Herod wanted to be king, he petitions Rome later to be king, and that’s what gets him deposed. He wants to be important. So his dilemma: Do I obey the truth that I fear? Or do I pursue being liked by my rich friends? And it says the he IMMEDIATELY sends for the executioner.
-Meanwhile it jumps to a King out in a field where people haven’t even had a chance to eat.
-Ezekiel 34
-The son of David was someone they were looking for. Ezekiel says: He’s going to come and be the shepherd for these people that you haven’t been.
-Herod’s banquet ends in death, Jesus hands out the bread of life.
-You read in John, it says that when Jesus is feeding them, the people understand what is going on and they try to make him King by force. It says Jesus escapes them, he’s not like the kings of this world. He’s also not there to overthrow the government. He’s in a whole other kind of revolution: I’m going to take people who are starving, and I’m going to feed them. He’s giving power, not taking it.
-He comes to give bread, not death. That’s the king coming to the field.
-He’s creating a new system where you give instead of take.
-He doesn’t want to do it alone. You see them when he’s breaking the bread. Its not like Harry Potter where food suddenly appears on the tables. He does it through the people. His revolutionaries.
His Revolutionaries
-Mark calls them the “apostles“. As you look through Mark, Jesus has been building to this, with the “fishers of men.” Then they just sit with him and watch what he does and learn from him. Then Jesus tells them to go out and fish. Go preach what I preach. Go do what I do. And they go do it. And it works, a crowd follows.
-The rap community is awesome at discipleship. Think Dr. Dre and Eminem. Dre bring him in and doesn’t give him a record deal right away, he just gives him a verse in one of his songs and then eventually sends him on his way to do his thing. Same with DOC and Dre. Technically, his is exactly what we should be doing, but in the religious sense, of course.
-I do and you watch, I do and you help, you do and I help. You do and I watch. He’s not doing this alone. He brings people up and sets them free.
-you can tell the disciples are feeling this moment, because they come to Jesus and say, “Hey, its getting late, we should probably wrap this up and send everyone to on there way to get food, you know?” Jesus loves that because they’re starting to think like ministers, they’re concerned. So reasonable plan right, turn them loose to get lunch on there own? And Jesus gives this logistical nightmare: “You give them something.” Emphasis on YOU. Then they give him the most sarcastic and disrespectful answer throughout the gospels. “Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? (denarii is a days wage, so 200 days wages). There like oh, ok, so I’ll just take that $35,00 and go buy them all bread, right? Remember earlier how you said don’t carry any money with you? Seriously? We’ll do ministry, but what your calling for is unrealistic. So Jesus asks them to go and see how much break they have. He lets them feel there inadequacy. They come back with 5. Jesus puts them in this situation where they learn that they have to come to him. No, I’ll just get a job and let missionaries do that. I’m want to help, but I’m digging in my pockets and all I have is 5 pieces of bread, sorry. I’m insufficient, I cant do that. Jesus puts them in a place where they feel helpless. He wants them there. If they feel inadequate, then they see what he can do.
-He sits them down by the hundreds and fifties and divides the bread and fish. They eat till they’re satisfied, and afterward they collect 12 baskets full of leftover pieces.
The reason he’s doing it.
-That’s a miracle, folks. No one from the crowd decided to pull out extra loaves that they had, that’s not how you get 12 leftover baskets. If you don’t think he does miracles, he’s walking on water a couple verses later, so get over it.
-He puts them in this moment where he wants them to be a part of changing everything.
-You think you can’t make a difference, that’s fine, you come to him broken and empty, you give him what you have, and you let him work.
-Its like that show Captain America. The kids with the rings cant do it, just call the captain already!
-Your job isn’t to solve things, its to seek him.
-He knows your small, he just wants you to admit that.
-Whats interesting about this miracle is that really, its unnecessary. They weren’t dying. No ones daughter was dying this time, these people were just a little hungry. Letting them go to the nearby towns the get bread would have been fine. Jesus creates a crisis because he wants to show you your small, and then he wants to show you him.
-That’s what happens in the next moment, he puts them in the boat out in the water. They get out there and the disciples are rowing and they cant row in. So Jesus just walks out to them on the water. They think it’s a ghost. He’s like, umm no, its me, don’t be afraid. And he gets in the boat. That story end with them being astounded because they didn’t understand the loaves. That means these miracles are unnecessary for our immediate physical need. But they were deeply necessary for your soul. He’s not trying to show you the solutions to your little problems, hes trying to show you the big solution.
-Im the guy who runs nature, and im going to create a crisis to make you feel hopeless so you can look at me and say that im the guy who runs the world.
-He’s doing this so you fix your eyes on him.
-He’s going to come and not just heal our hunger, not just calm the rage of nature, hes gonna fix the souls of every human being. And he does that by taking the brokenness and not just overpowering it in this moment, he’s gonna take it and put it on himself.
-”I’m like this bread, one day im going to break in two, and im going to feed you and make you whole."
Feeding The Masses
Mark 6:7-52
This story is about a revolution. Much like the one happening in the middle east right now.
-the feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle performed in the gospels.
His Revolution
-the apostles (only time term “apostle” is used in the bible) return from being sent out by Jesus to go teach and heal. The crowds followed them back. Jesus took the disciples out to the wilderness to rest, but they didn’t have time to because the crowds saw their boat and followed them to the banks of the lake. So they get there and there is this massive crowd waiting for them. Jesus felt compassion for them. Text says he saw them as “sheep without a shepherd.”
-Revolutionary statement. A shepherd as been a metaphor all throughout the Jewish culture for the leaders of the people. He looks at this crowd and said they have no leadership. That’s why this part of Mark is laid out so weird with that story about Herod thrown in there.
-Herod used to like John the Baptist, but when Herod married his brothers wife John says to him, “It is not lawful for you to have your brothers wife.” So his wife, Herodias, has had a grudge against him and wanted him put to death, but she couldn’t because Herod feared John. But on his birthday, he hold this banquet for all his rich friends. Herodias’s step daughter in law comes in and she‘s dancing for him, and Herod asked her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” So she asked her mother what she should ask for. She told her, “The head of John the Baptist.” So she went to him and asked, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist in a platter.” At first the Herod told her no, but he didn’t want to break his promise to her so he immediately sent the executioner for his head. (John had been in Jail for the duration to keep him safe from Herodias)
-It seems like one of those “meanwhile” moments in a story. A “this is what happened while they were gone” thing. But its not, it’s a flashback. It was stuck here in the middle of this story because Mark wants to show you the shepherd.
-Herod doesn’t care about his peoples sensibilities. He rules over Galilee, a very religious place. He told his brother divorce your wife, I’m marrying her, and John steps up to try and preach the truth to him. Herod’s confused by him, he fears John, but he also wants to do what he wants to do. So he’s stuck in the middle of his wife wanting him dead and the fact that he kind of likes listening to him. So when Herod gets caught up in the moment with Herodias’s daughter dancing in front of him, he tell her he’ll give her whatever she wants. The irony of this is that he’s not even a king, his dad was king. In his will he specified that none of his kids would rule and he split the kingdom into fourths, and this is just Herod Antipas, the seventh son of Herod the Great. Mark calls him “king” through all of this because Herod wanted to be king, he petitions Rome later to be king, and that’s what gets him deposed. He wants to be important. So his dilemma: Do I obey the truth that I fear? Or do I pursue being liked by my rich friends? And it says the he IMMEDIATELY sends for the executioner.
-Meanwhile it jumps to a King out in a field where people haven’t even had a chance to eat.
-Ezekiel 34
-The son of David was someone they were looking for. Ezekiel says: He’s going to come and be the shepherd for these people that you haven’t been.
-Herod’s banquet ends in death, Jesus hands out the bread of life.
-You read in John, it says that when Jesus is feeding them, the people understand what is going on and they try to make him King by force. It says Jesus escapes them, he’s not like the kings of this world. He’s also not there to overthrow the government. He’s in a whole other kind of revolution: I’m going to take people who are starving, and I’m going to feed them. He’s giving power, not taking it.
-He comes to give bread, not death. That’s the king coming to the field.
-He’s creating a new system where you give instead of take.
-He doesn’t want to do it alone. You see them when he’s breaking the bread. Its not like Harry Potter where food suddenly appears on the tables. He does it through the people. His revolutionaries.
His Revolutionaries
-Mark calls them the “apostles“. As you look through Mark, Jesus has been building to this, with the “fishers of men.” Then they just sit with him and watch what he does and learn from him. Then Jesus tells them to go out and fish. Go preach what I preach. Go do what I do. And they go do it. And it works, a crowd follows.
-The rap community is awesome at discipleship. Think Dr. Dre and Eminem. Dre bring him in and doesn’t give him a record deal right away, he just gives him a verse in one of his songs and then eventually sends him on his way to do his thing. Same with DOC and Dre. Technically, his is exactly what we should be doing, but in the religious sense, of course.
-I do and you watch, I do and you help, you do and I help. You do and I watch. He’s not doing this alone. He brings people up and sets them free.
-you can tell the disciples are feeling this moment, because they come to Jesus and say, “Hey, its getting late, we should probably wrap this up and send everyone to on there way to get food, you know?” Jesus loves that because they’re starting to think like ministers, they’re concerned. So reasonable plan right, turn them loose to get lunch on there own? And Jesus gives this logistical nightmare: “You give them something.” Emphasis on YOU. Then they give him the most sarcastic and disrespectful answer throughout the gospels. “Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? (denarii is a days wage, so 200 days wages). There like oh, ok, so I’ll just take that $35,00 and go buy them all bread, right? Remember earlier how you said don’t carry any money with you? Seriously? We’ll do ministry, but what your calling for is unrealistic. So Jesus asks them to go and see how much break they have. He lets them feel there inadequacy. They come back with 5. Jesus puts them in this situation where they learn that they have to come to him. No, I’ll just get a job and let missionaries do that. I’m want to help, but I’m digging in my pockets and all I have is 5 pieces of bread, sorry. I’m insufficient, I cant do that. Jesus puts them in a place where they feel helpless. He wants them there. If they feel inadequate, then they see what he can do.
-He sits them down by the hundreds and fifties and divides the bread and fish. They eat till they’re satisfied, and afterward they collect 12 baskets full of leftover pieces.
The reason he’s doing it.
-That’s a miracle, folks. No one from the crowd decided to pull out extra loaves that they had, that’s not how you get 12 leftover baskets. If you don’t think he does miracles, he’s walking on water a couple verses later, so get over it.
-He puts them in this moment where he wants them to be a part of changing everything.
-You think you can’t make a difference, that’s fine, you come to him broken and empty, you give him what you have, and you let him work.
-Its like that show Captain America. The kids with the rings cant do it, just call the captain already!
-Your job isn’t to solve things, its to seek him.
-He knows your small, he just wants you to admit that.
-Whats interesting about this miracle is that really, its unnecessary. They weren’t dying. No ones daughter was dying this time, these people were just a little hungry. Letting them go to the nearby towns the get bread would have been fine. Jesus creates a crisis because he wants to show you your small, and then he wants to show you him.
-That’s what happens in the next moment, he puts them in the boat out in the water. They get out there and the disciples are rowing and they cant row in. So Jesus just walks out to them on the water. They think it’s a ghost. He’s like, umm no, its me, don’t be afraid. And he gets in the boat. That story end with them being astounded because they didn’t understand the loaves. That means these miracles are unnecessary for our immediate physical need. But they were deeply necessary for your soul. He’s not trying to show you the solutions to your little problems, hes trying to show you the big solution.
-Im the guy who runs nature, and im going to create a crisis to make you feel hopeless so you can look at me and say that im the guy who runs the world.
-He’s doing this so you fix your eyes on him.
-He’s going to come and not just heal our hunger, not just calm the rage of nature, hes gonna fix the souls of every human being. And he does that by taking the brokenness and not just overpowering it in this moment, he’s gonna take it and put it on himself.
-”I’m like this bread, one day im going to break in two, and im going to feed you and make you whole."
Friday, February 11, 2011
Storms, Satan, and Sickness.
Man, God sure is funny sometimes. The amazing kind of funny.
I guess this is where I go back to the main reason I started these blogs. To tell people things about me that i wouldn't normally, no matter how close we are. I regularly go through stages of sadness and i guess depression? I've never been diagnosed, and i never will be, but I'm sure thats what it is. Really it just goes back to my loneliness. I'm one of those people who strives for close relationships, constant communication, things like that, and i'm sure it really bugs some people, especially the people i'm closest with right now, and i do apologize for my constant text messages. :)
But the point i'm trying to get to. I call these moments of loneliness "bad days" so if i ever say something like yesterday was a bad day, thats usually what I mean. And usually not long after i have a "bad day" something happens and I instantly feel better. I'll get a random text from a friend, or I hear a song that makes me feel better, or something. And i'm just like, ok, stop being stupid, you have God running through your veins!! Why the heck are your sad? And then of course i'm not sad anymore, usually the complete opposite. That feeling will last for a couple days, then we'll repeat the cycle. And that's my life right now in a nutshell. Welcome.
So last night and into this morning was a bad day. And it doesnt help that i have a super over active imagination, so i tend to really make things worse for myself. I've been feeling pretty down all day, I spent the majority of the day doing my laundry and catching up on stuff I've DVR'd. But all through out the day, i had this nagging thought that wouldnt go away. "You havnt listened to a podcast in two days, theres a new breakaway podcast out from tuesday, you really need to go listen to it." Then I'd open my computer, and the charger is messed up so i'd start trying to fix that because if I want to watch it my computer needs to be plugged in cause my batteries kinda crappy. So I couldnt fix it so i'd get mad and walk away from it.That happened like 3 times. So the fourth time i just decided to wedge my phone between the table and the chord from the charger, keeping it still, and that worked, so i watched it.
Towards the middle of the podcast, Ben brings up the subject of how people pray to God about they're problems, the ones that they are really struggling with, and they dont get an answer. And this is something I've always struggled with, and I know basic answer, but like every other time Ben speaks, he puts it in a way where its like a lightbulb comes on and it finally makes since. And this is exactly how he puts it. "Jesus isn’t just looking for you to have faith, he’s looking to grow your faith. So he will put you in situations that you don’t want, he’ll make you wait until you move towards him. And when you do that, you get to be a part of something bigger than you can imagine. "
So I wait.
Like always, even though i don't want to, I posted my notes from this podcast. But if you just feel so inclined, this is the podcast titled Storms, Satan, and Sickness from Breakaway Ministries podcasts.
P.S. It might be in your best interest to read the text for this message before you listen to it or read my notes. It will be hard to follow if you dont have knowledge of the story.
Mark 4:35-5:43
2/11/2011
The morning after he finished teaching from the boat, he and the disciples took off.
1. The Power of Jesus.
-You see it at that moment where they first get out on the sea. They run into a great wind storm. Water is beginning to fill the boat. Jesus is sleeping while this is going on. The sailors run to him and ask, “Teacher, do you care that we’re perishing?” It says Jesus stood up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea “peace, be still.” In the Greek translation, those two commands are just two words. So basically Jesus is saying to the wind, be quiet, and stay quiet.
-Weird moment one is that he would say that to nature. Weird moment two is that it obeys. Some people would say that that was a coincidence, but if you read on it says that the wind ceased, and that there was great calm. What that means is that not only did the wind stopped suddenly, but so did the waves, which is impossible, and the sailors were calm. Then Jesus goes back to sleep.
-Mark closes the story with a question. They said to each other. “Who is this that the wind and seas obey him?
-There was this out of control moment, and the sailors doubted Jesus’ love and power. But suddenly this out of control place obeys. Only God can rule the seas. There’s no conjuring, incantations, or wands, he just goes “quiet” and it does it, cause he told it to. That kind of power eliminates the possibility of you listening to his sermons and then trying to decide if they work for you or not.
-They were scared of the ocean, then when he’s done, it says they were greatly afraid. There’s only one thing scarier than they ocean. That guy. That level of control scares us more than an uncontrollable situation. He’s Lord whether you like it or not.
-Naturally, that disturbs us, because we want options. We don’t want people telling us what to do.
-Maybe for some people, there was a person in your life with authority over you, and abused it, didn’t combine it with love. So for you to hear that Jesus is your authority makes you greatly afraid because he has power over you and he could hurt you. But he has that power, whether you like it or not.
2. The Purpose of Jesus.
-They land on shore in the country Gerasenes. Gentile territory. As soon as they get there, a man with an unclean spirit comes running at Jesus. It just kind of sets up and show down, because Jesus has the Holy Spirit, and this guy has an unholy spirit. Dudes been breaking shackles, but it says that once he gets to Jesus, he falls on his knees and starts begging earnestly for God not to torment him. There’s no battle or anything. Jesus says “Sit, Get out.” and he does.
-Jesus rules the seen world, and the unseen.
-When Mark describes this guy, he uses the word unclean. Technically that means, defiled, violated. He lives among the tombs, dead things, and he’s isolated from society. It says that no one could bind him ANYMORE. So that means at one time they could. So he got into something that had a certain amount of power, but as he waded in deeper, it got more powerful. He had no control over his life anymore. He’s sad, tormented, and lonely, and he’s cutting himself.
-He’s the picture of all of us. The bible says that without Christ, we are the children of the devil, captive to do his will.
-He sits this guy down, and casts the demon into the pigs, and the pigs take off for the sea and drown themselves. Those tending the pigs run into town and tell everyone what happened. The towns people come to the sea side and see the once demon possessed man seated, clothed, and in his right mind.
-Jesus comes to the hurting and brings peace.
-In the story it says then the townspeople see the once demon possessed man seated, clothed, and in his right mind they are scared out of there minds.
-They come up to Jesus, and they weren’t expecting to see him chilling with this guy that used to run around naked breaking chains and things and cutting himself with rocks. They weren’t ready for that yet. He loves to take the people who are crying out in the night and bring there dignity back. He’ll sit with you.
-His purpose is to set people free.
-So your asking if he’s here to set me free and bring me peace, then what about my problems? I’ve been praying and he hasn’t done anything. You see the answer to that in the priority of Jesus.
3. The Priorities of Jesus.
-Jesus leaves one side of the sea and comes to the next., and another man comes running up to him, Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, and he also falls on his knees in front of Jesus. He’s begging him to come heal his dying daughter. Jesus says “Yeah, I’ll do it.”
-Text says that there was a crowd of people that thronged him. A whole bunch of people want to see a miracle, and they’re packing around him. So you feel the tension here, Jesus is in a hurry and these people are surrounding him, pushing him and slowing him down. Then Mark brings up this girl who’s in the crowd, and she’s had this illness for most of her life. (Aside: if you haven’t heard this story, the text says she suffers from bleeding, and we’re talking about the female kind of bleeding here, so like the demon possessed guy, she’s considered unclean as well.) She thinks that if she can just touch his clothes she’ll be healed. She’s not trying to get in the way, just a quick touch to see if it will work, and that’s all. Once she goes up and touches his garment, she’s healed, but then it says that Jesus stopped. The disciples don’t have any background info on this girl, so there like “Um your surrounded by a ton of people, and your wondering who touched your clothes?” The text says he began looking for who it was, he isn’t going to let it go. If your Jairus, how do you feel right now?
-Finally it says that she came up and confessed that it was her, and she told Jesus her story. After he hears it, Jesus says because of your faith, you are healed.
-The thing is though, that the illness this girl had was chronic, it had been going on for 12 years, she would have been OK for another 2 hours or so, and if you remember, Jesus is in a hurry because Jairus’ daughter is dying at that moment, like, right now. And Jesus puts his daughter aside for this girl. He’s doing this because there’s something important about this woman that he wants to make clear. No one wanted this moment, Jairus didn’t want it, and neither did she, she just wanted to touch him and run. Jesus wants it. Because she just wanted this superstitious moment of let me get healing from the healing guy, and leave. And Jesus stops and says no. He wants to teach her and she had faith and that she trusted him, and that faith in him is what he’s looking for. Its your faith in me that gives you life.
-Jairus’ friends come up and tell him his daughter is gone. How do you think Jairus feels at that moment. Your standing here watching Jesus put on this show, and your friends come up and say you can stop bugging the teacher, because shes dead.
-Jesus turns to him and says “Don’t be afraid, believe.” I want you to wait. I want you to wait until all trust is gone, and I want you to keep trusting me.
-Jesus isn’t just looking for you to have faith, he’s looking to grow your faith. So he will put you in situations that you don’t want, he’ll make you wait until you move towards him. And when you do that, you get to be a part of something bigger than you can imagine.
-Jesus goes into the room and takes the people that trust him with him and kicks everyone else out. He looks down at that little girl and says “Talitha koum!” (means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”)
-You trust him, and he lets you see the miraculous.
So the question is this. You think he’s strong enough, whatever storm your facing, whatever demon is raging against you, whatever sickness or if your staring in the face of death. You think he’s strong enough to handle it? Is your Jesus big enough? Do you think he’s loving enough? Do you think he cares about you? Some of you don’t think he does and your wrong. Do you think he loves you? Or some of you, if you think he’s all powerful and all loving, do you think he’s also all wise? And maybe in his wisdom he wants you to wait? And if you do you’ll see the glory of God, do you see that? Because that’s the kind of faith he’s calling you to. That’s the kind of people he’s creating, and that’s where we’ll see his glory in our days on earth.
I guess this is where I go back to the main reason I started these blogs. To tell people things about me that i wouldn't normally, no matter how close we are. I regularly go through stages of sadness and i guess depression? I've never been diagnosed, and i never will be, but I'm sure thats what it is. Really it just goes back to my loneliness. I'm one of those people who strives for close relationships, constant communication, things like that, and i'm sure it really bugs some people, especially the people i'm closest with right now, and i do apologize for my constant text messages. :)
But the point i'm trying to get to. I call these moments of loneliness "bad days" so if i ever say something like yesterday was a bad day, thats usually what I mean. And usually not long after i have a "bad day" something happens and I instantly feel better. I'll get a random text from a friend, or I hear a song that makes me feel better, or something. And i'm just like, ok, stop being stupid, you have God running through your veins!! Why the heck are your sad? And then of course i'm not sad anymore, usually the complete opposite. That feeling will last for a couple days, then we'll repeat the cycle. And that's my life right now in a nutshell. Welcome.
So last night and into this morning was a bad day. And it doesnt help that i have a super over active imagination, so i tend to really make things worse for myself. I've been feeling pretty down all day, I spent the majority of the day doing my laundry and catching up on stuff I've DVR'd. But all through out the day, i had this nagging thought that wouldnt go away. "You havnt listened to a podcast in two days, theres a new breakaway podcast out from tuesday, you really need to go listen to it." Then I'd open my computer, and the charger is messed up so i'd start trying to fix that because if I want to watch it my computer needs to be plugged in cause my batteries kinda crappy. So I couldnt fix it so i'd get mad and walk away from it.That happened like 3 times. So the fourth time i just decided to wedge my phone between the table and the chord from the charger, keeping it still, and that worked, so i watched it.
Towards the middle of the podcast, Ben brings up the subject of how people pray to God about they're problems, the ones that they are really struggling with, and they dont get an answer. And this is something I've always struggled with, and I know basic answer, but like every other time Ben speaks, he puts it in a way where its like a lightbulb comes on and it finally makes since. And this is exactly how he puts it. "Jesus isn’t just looking for you to have faith, he’s looking to grow your faith. So he will put you in situations that you don’t want, he’ll make you wait until you move towards him. And when you do that, you get to be a part of something bigger than you can imagine. "
So I wait.
Like always, even though i don't want to, I posted my notes from this podcast. But if you just feel so inclined, this is the podcast titled Storms, Satan, and Sickness from Breakaway Ministries podcasts.
P.S. It might be in your best interest to read the text for this message before you listen to it or read my notes. It will be hard to follow if you dont have knowledge of the story.
Mark 4:35-5:43
2/11/2011
The morning after he finished teaching from the boat, he and the disciples took off.
1. The Power of Jesus.
-You see it at that moment where they first get out on the sea. They run into a great wind storm. Water is beginning to fill the boat. Jesus is sleeping while this is going on. The sailors run to him and ask, “Teacher, do you care that we’re perishing?” It says Jesus stood up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea “peace, be still.” In the Greek translation, those two commands are just two words. So basically Jesus is saying to the wind, be quiet, and stay quiet.
-Weird moment one is that he would say that to nature. Weird moment two is that it obeys. Some people would say that that was a coincidence, but if you read on it says that the wind ceased, and that there was great calm. What that means is that not only did the wind stopped suddenly, but so did the waves, which is impossible, and the sailors were calm. Then Jesus goes back to sleep.
-Mark closes the story with a question. They said to each other. “Who is this that the wind and seas obey him?
-There was this out of control moment, and the sailors doubted Jesus’ love and power. But suddenly this out of control place obeys. Only God can rule the seas. There’s no conjuring, incantations, or wands, he just goes “quiet” and it does it, cause he told it to. That kind of power eliminates the possibility of you listening to his sermons and then trying to decide if they work for you or not.
-They were scared of the ocean, then when he’s done, it says they were greatly afraid. There’s only one thing scarier than they ocean. That guy. That level of control scares us more than an uncontrollable situation. He’s Lord whether you like it or not.
-Naturally, that disturbs us, because we want options. We don’t want people telling us what to do.
-Maybe for some people, there was a person in your life with authority over you, and abused it, didn’t combine it with love. So for you to hear that Jesus is your authority makes you greatly afraid because he has power over you and he could hurt you. But he has that power, whether you like it or not.
2. The Purpose of Jesus.
-They land on shore in the country Gerasenes. Gentile territory. As soon as they get there, a man with an unclean spirit comes running at Jesus. It just kind of sets up and show down, because Jesus has the Holy Spirit, and this guy has an unholy spirit. Dudes been breaking shackles, but it says that once he gets to Jesus, he falls on his knees and starts begging earnestly for God not to torment him. There’s no battle or anything. Jesus says “Sit, Get out.” and he does.
-Jesus rules the seen world, and the unseen.
-When Mark describes this guy, he uses the word unclean. Technically that means, defiled, violated. He lives among the tombs, dead things, and he’s isolated from society. It says that no one could bind him ANYMORE. So that means at one time they could. So he got into something that had a certain amount of power, but as he waded in deeper, it got more powerful. He had no control over his life anymore. He’s sad, tormented, and lonely, and he’s cutting himself.
-He’s the picture of all of us. The bible says that without Christ, we are the children of the devil, captive to do his will.
-He sits this guy down, and casts the demon into the pigs, and the pigs take off for the sea and drown themselves. Those tending the pigs run into town and tell everyone what happened. The towns people come to the sea side and see the once demon possessed man seated, clothed, and in his right mind.
-Jesus comes to the hurting and brings peace.
-In the story it says then the townspeople see the once demon possessed man seated, clothed, and in his right mind they are scared out of there minds.
-They come up to Jesus, and they weren’t expecting to see him chilling with this guy that used to run around naked breaking chains and things and cutting himself with rocks. They weren’t ready for that yet. He loves to take the people who are crying out in the night and bring there dignity back. He’ll sit with you.
-His purpose is to set people free.
-So your asking if he’s here to set me free and bring me peace, then what about my problems? I’ve been praying and he hasn’t done anything. You see the answer to that in the priority of Jesus.
3. The Priorities of Jesus.
-Jesus leaves one side of the sea and comes to the next., and another man comes running up to him, Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, and he also falls on his knees in front of Jesus. He’s begging him to come heal his dying daughter. Jesus says “Yeah, I’ll do it.”
-Text says that there was a crowd of people that thronged him. A whole bunch of people want to see a miracle, and they’re packing around him. So you feel the tension here, Jesus is in a hurry and these people are surrounding him, pushing him and slowing him down. Then Mark brings up this girl who’s in the crowd, and she’s had this illness for most of her life. (Aside: if you haven’t heard this story, the text says she suffers from bleeding, and we’re talking about the female kind of bleeding here, so like the demon possessed guy, she’s considered unclean as well.) She thinks that if she can just touch his clothes she’ll be healed. She’s not trying to get in the way, just a quick touch to see if it will work, and that’s all. Once she goes up and touches his garment, she’s healed, but then it says that Jesus stopped. The disciples don’t have any background info on this girl, so there like “Um your surrounded by a ton of people, and your wondering who touched your clothes?” The text says he began looking for who it was, he isn’t going to let it go. If your Jairus, how do you feel right now?
-Finally it says that she came up and confessed that it was her, and she told Jesus her story. After he hears it, Jesus says because of your faith, you are healed.
-The thing is though, that the illness this girl had was chronic, it had been going on for 12 years, she would have been OK for another 2 hours or so, and if you remember, Jesus is in a hurry because Jairus’ daughter is dying at that moment, like, right now. And Jesus puts his daughter aside for this girl. He’s doing this because there’s something important about this woman that he wants to make clear. No one wanted this moment, Jairus didn’t want it, and neither did she, she just wanted to touch him and run. Jesus wants it. Because she just wanted this superstitious moment of let me get healing from the healing guy, and leave. And Jesus stops and says no. He wants to teach her and she had faith and that she trusted him, and that faith in him is what he’s looking for. Its your faith in me that gives you life.
-Jairus’ friends come up and tell him his daughter is gone. How do you think Jairus feels at that moment. Your standing here watching Jesus put on this show, and your friends come up and say you can stop bugging the teacher, because shes dead.
-Jesus turns to him and says “Don’t be afraid, believe.” I want you to wait. I want you to wait until all trust is gone, and I want you to keep trusting me.
-Jesus isn’t just looking for you to have faith, he’s looking to grow your faith. So he will put you in situations that you don’t want, he’ll make you wait until you move towards him. And when you do that, you get to be a part of something bigger than you can imagine.
-Jesus goes into the room and takes the people that trust him with him and kicks everyone else out. He looks down at that little girl and says “Talitha koum!” (means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”)
-You trust him, and he lets you see the miraculous.
So the question is this. You think he’s strong enough, whatever storm your facing, whatever demon is raging against you, whatever sickness or if your staring in the face of death. You think he’s strong enough to handle it? Is your Jesus big enough? Do you think he’s loving enough? Do you think he cares about you? Some of you don’t think he does and your wrong. Do you think he loves you? Or some of you, if you think he’s all powerful and all loving, do you think he’s also all wise? And maybe in his wisdom he wants you to wait? And if you do you’ll see the glory of God, do you see that? Because that’s the kind of faith he’s calling you to. That’s the kind of people he’s creating, and that’s where we’ll see his glory in our days on earth.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Make sense of your life.
This one is a bit different tonight guys. I can sit here and honestly tell you that this podcast changed my life 100%. I almost don't want to post my notes just so I can make you guys go watch his podcast just because I can't say things like Francis Chan. But, I also can't keep from you what I've just learned. So if you will finally listen to me and go listen to this podcast, its free, ok, all you need is iTunes and 55 minutes to spare, or even if you don't have it to spare, make 55 minutes to spare, because it will literally change your entire view of what it means to be a Christian. In the iTunes store, search Cornerstone Simi Video Podcast. The one I'm referring to is called Making Sense of your life, so atleast get that one. Make sure you have no distractions, which I understand can be hard if your a parent, but you will really not want to miss anything. And just watch it, do yourself a favor and watch it. I will literally be OK dying tomorrow if I know at least one person watches this.
But if you don't i'm going to post my notes below. Some of you might not be getting my urgency with this, so I'm going to. But I will warn you, my notes start going almost word for word with what Francis says, so if you read it all then decide to watch it, it wont have the same effect, because you've heard it all before. So you really need to pick one, and if your at that point, seriously, ignore my notes and watch it, its Francis Chan. Seriously.
I pray that you guys react like I did. Because finally hearing this literally changes everything. I'm going to stop going on now and put my notes on because they're 3 pages long in Word, so I can only imagine how long it will be on here. But i just pray that you take me seriously here.
Making Sense of Your Life
Francis Chan
2/7/2011
Philippians 1:27-28
-He wants our lives to be worthy of the Gospel.
-He’s the only being with any true power. And he just wants you to be his child. He sacrifices for you!
-If you really believe that, what should your life look like? Live your life in a way that makes sense.
-If I believe this, then why am I doing “this.”
-The idea of “worthy” is equal weight. If you put the bible on one side of a scale, and your life on the other. Do they equal out? Are you living a life worthy of the Word? Or is it out of balance? You say that any moment your going to stand with God and all of this won’t even matter except for him. Well, then look at your life. Does what you say show in your life? Do people see that on your face? The joy that you get when you communicate with the God Almighty! Do people see that?
-Your telling people that you aren’t like them, because God’s spirit is inside of you! He used to not be, but his spirit wells inside of you!
-If you believe that truth, that you’re a truly transformed being, does your life match up to what you say you believe?
-Does my life look like I really believe there’s a place like hell? Do people see there’s an urgency to the way you do things, because you know that God could come back anytime?
He tells these stories of his travels in Asia over these past couple of months. There was one in particular that stuck out to me. He was in India, just talking to a group of believers about there lives. He starts to talking to this woman feeding her baby. She tells him about when she first became a Christian and some of her Hindu friends found out about it. A group of them came over to her house not long after with this lizard with its head cut off and they were telling her that she had to drink the blood from this lizard because that’s how your convert back to Hinduism. She said that she told them no, grabbed her bible, and ran. Her husband followed her, and they left everything. They ran for the jungle. She eventually had her baby there in the jungle, they didn’t even have food for themselves, much less a newborn baby. They eventually wander into this village where they meet fellow believers and they receive help from them.
After he tells this story, Francis says “And that makes sense! That is a life worthy of the Gospel!” And he’s so right! We have to be in the mindset where if we have to, we can leave everything, literally everything, and run for God, and never look back.
Also, something we have to realize is that these believers have only been believers for maybe, 6 months? I’ve technically been a believer for about 8 years, and I still don’t know if I’m there yet. The Christian like me doesn’t make sense in India, one that was baptized years ago and just calls themselves a Christian but doesn’t usually act like it most of the time. It doesn’t make sense there, Francis says they asked him why we would do that? Why would you just call yourself a Christian? Over there, you lose everything when you get baptized. It is literally all or nothing. And you know what? That totally makes since.
He talks about when he was in Thailand, and he experienced some of the most amazing worship times in his life. He says there was this one night where he was in a little hut with his family and 36 kids and a couple leaders, and they’re just sitting around worshipping. He said they guy playing the guitar and singing was just sad, just horrible. No one cared. You see this room full of these little kids that have been physically and spiritually rescued, and they have there eyes closed just screaming out to God. He said that there was no way anyone could sit in that room and not cry, that this has to be the most beautiful thing to God. These kids literally owe everything to him, and they sing and pray like it. They live like it. He says that’s how it should be when we sing to God, that makes sense.
Next, he talks about going to China and having the opportunity to teach at one of the underground missionary training places. These are the believers that the church looked at and said they were the most hard core ones who will be sent to the middle east, and places that will be even more dangerous. They were all around ages 18-25. He say’s he and his daughter Rachel walked into the room and they were all praying, and they way they did it was just different, more intense, they just shouted to God. Then Francis starts getting them to share about they’re lives and they persecution they have faced. And I don’t know if you read one of my earlier blogs about Francis speaking at Passion this year, this is the same story he told there so you might have heard me talk about this already. But he say’s that when he asks about their persecution, they don’t really understand what he wants them to tell him. Eventually they say things like, well I’m sure you know what were talking about, these types of things are normal. They didn’t understand that not everyone faces persecution and hostility like they do. They ask why he even wants to hear about their persecution because Jesus said it was supposed to happen, so it’s not a big deal, they expected it. He eventually gets them to tell him some stories. He says a girl starts telling him a story where they were having a meeting, and someone came into warn them that a government official was coming. She said in her broken English that for the first time in her life she thanked God that she was so skinny, because she fit in between these two boards and how she’s trying not to breathe. He says, by the way, everyone else in the room is just laughing, remembering back and laughing about it. She started praying because her backpack was downstairs and because some of her friends got taken away. There was 3 officials that come and there was 13 of them, so she says that everyone just runs in a different direction. Then the officials start firing their guns. But they girls says we were taught to never stop running. So they just kept running, hoping they were bluffing, just shooting in the air. And they eventually hear them say that they are just shooting in the air, but if they don’t stop they’ll start aiming. While shes finishing the story, everyone’s still laughing and cheering.
This is life to them. He tells them that where he comes from its not like that. Where he comes from we have these buildings called churches and we attend them, and we have so many that if you find one where you like the music better you just switch. And they just laughed and laughed like “shut up, whatever” (and you know what, I kind of find myself sitting here thinking how bizarre that sounds too!) They say “That doesn’t make sense! How do you read the bible and come up with that!?” Francis says that if was just one of those moments where you walk away thinking, “Wow, this really is ridiculous.”
If you put India and China together, that’s 40% of the worlds population. This isn’t just a little country we’re talking about here. The U.S. is about 4% to put it in perspective. We are the weird ones guys! We are the ones that are laughed at!
1 Timothy 16: 15-16- he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
If we really believe that, that God has all the power, Satan has no power over this world. God determines whether Satan breathes. In light of that truth, shouldn’t we be excited to talk to this being, and excited to sing about him?
One of these days. God’s going to come down in all of this glory, with all of his angels. And he’s going to gather us all in one place everyone on the earth, and start dividing us, the sheep from the goats. He says you guys, I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, you cared for me. So come on. I’m going to bless you some much. Whatever you did for the least of these, you did it for me. And the ones who did do that, away into this eternal punishment!
If we really believe that, that us caring for our brothers and sisters, and how important that is, wouldn’t our lives be just about how much we can give?
We aren’t just people guys! God himself lives inside you! Read that again, and believe it. GOD HIMSELF LIVES INSIDE OF YOU!! THE GOD WHO CREATED THE WORLD!
And if out lives don’t look different then someone who doesn’t have God in them? That doesn’t make sense!
But if you don't i'm going to post my notes below. Some of you might not be getting my urgency with this, so I'm going to. But I will warn you, my notes start going almost word for word with what Francis says, so if you read it all then decide to watch it, it wont have the same effect, because you've heard it all before. So you really need to pick one, and if your at that point, seriously, ignore my notes and watch it, its Francis Chan. Seriously.
I pray that you guys react like I did. Because finally hearing this literally changes everything. I'm going to stop going on now and put my notes on because they're 3 pages long in Word, so I can only imagine how long it will be on here. But i just pray that you take me seriously here.
Making Sense of Your Life
Francis Chan
2/7/2011
Philippians 1:27-28
-He wants our lives to be worthy of the Gospel.
-He’s the only being with any true power. And he just wants you to be his child. He sacrifices for you!
-If you really believe that, what should your life look like? Live your life in a way that makes sense.
-If I believe this, then why am I doing “this.”
-The idea of “worthy” is equal weight. If you put the bible on one side of a scale, and your life on the other. Do they equal out? Are you living a life worthy of the Word? Or is it out of balance? You say that any moment your going to stand with God and all of this won’t even matter except for him. Well, then look at your life. Does what you say show in your life? Do people see that on your face? The joy that you get when you communicate with the God Almighty! Do people see that?
-Your telling people that you aren’t like them, because God’s spirit is inside of you! He used to not be, but his spirit wells inside of you!
-If you believe that truth, that you’re a truly transformed being, does your life match up to what you say you believe?
-Does my life look like I really believe there’s a place like hell? Do people see there’s an urgency to the way you do things, because you know that God could come back anytime?
He tells these stories of his travels in Asia over these past couple of months. There was one in particular that stuck out to me. He was in India, just talking to a group of believers about there lives. He starts to talking to this woman feeding her baby. She tells him about when she first became a Christian and some of her Hindu friends found out about it. A group of them came over to her house not long after with this lizard with its head cut off and they were telling her that she had to drink the blood from this lizard because that’s how your convert back to Hinduism. She said that she told them no, grabbed her bible, and ran. Her husband followed her, and they left everything. They ran for the jungle. She eventually had her baby there in the jungle, they didn’t even have food for themselves, much less a newborn baby. They eventually wander into this village where they meet fellow believers and they receive help from them.
After he tells this story, Francis says “And that makes sense! That is a life worthy of the Gospel!” And he’s so right! We have to be in the mindset where if we have to, we can leave everything, literally everything, and run for God, and never look back.
Also, something we have to realize is that these believers have only been believers for maybe, 6 months? I’ve technically been a believer for about 8 years, and I still don’t know if I’m there yet. The Christian like me doesn’t make sense in India, one that was baptized years ago and just calls themselves a Christian but doesn’t usually act like it most of the time. It doesn’t make sense there, Francis says they asked him why we would do that? Why would you just call yourself a Christian? Over there, you lose everything when you get baptized. It is literally all or nothing. And you know what? That totally makes since.
He talks about when he was in Thailand, and he experienced some of the most amazing worship times in his life. He says there was this one night where he was in a little hut with his family and 36 kids and a couple leaders, and they’re just sitting around worshipping. He said they guy playing the guitar and singing was just sad, just horrible. No one cared. You see this room full of these little kids that have been physically and spiritually rescued, and they have there eyes closed just screaming out to God. He said that there was no way anyone could sit in that room and not cry, that this has to be the most beautiful thing to God. These kids literally owe everything to him, and they sing and pray like it. They live like it. He says that’s how it should be when we sing to God, that makes sense.
Next, he talks about going to China and having the opportunity to teach at one of the underground missionary training places. These are the believers that the church looked at and said they were the most hard core ones who will be sent to the middle east, and places that will be even more dangerous. They were all around ages 18-25. He say’s he and his daughter Rachel walked into the room and they were all praying, and they way they did it was just different, more intense, they just shouted to God. Then Francis starts getting them to share about they’re lives and they persecution they have faced. And I don’t know if you read one of my earlier blogs about Francis speaking at Passion this year, this is the same story he told there so you might have heard me talk about this already. But he say’s that when he asks about their persecution, they don’t really understand what he wants them to tell him. Eventually they say things like, well I’m sure you know what were talking about, these types of things are normal. They didn’t understand that not everyone faces persecution and hostility like they do. They ask why he even wants to hear about their persecution because Jesus said it was supposed to happen, so it’s not a big deal, they expected it. He eventually gets them to tell him some stories. He says a girl starts telling him a story where they were having a meeting, and someone came into warn them that a government official was coming. She said in her broken English that for the first time in her life she thanked God that she was so skinny, because she fit in between these two boards and how she’s trying not to breathe. He says, by the way, everyone else in the room is just laughing, remembering back and laughing about it. She started praying because her backpack was downstairs and because some of her friends got taken away. There was 3 officials that come and there was 13 of them, so she says that everyone just runs in a different direction. Then the officials start firing their guns. But they girls says we were taught to never stop running. So they just kept running, hoping they were bluffing, just shooting in the air. And they eventually hear them say that they are just shooting in the air, but if they don’t stop they’ll start aiming. While shes finishing the story, everyone’s still laughing and cheering.
This is life to them. He tells them that where he comes from its not like that. Where he comes from we have these buildings called churches and we attend them, and we have so many that if you find one where you like the music better you just switch. And they just laughed and laughed like “shut up, whatever” (and you know what, I kind of find myself sitting here thinking how bizarre that sounds too!) They say “That doesn’t make sense! How do you read the bible and come up with that!?” Francis says that if was just one of those moments where you walk away thinking, “Wow, this really is ridiculous.”
If you put India and China together, that’s 40% of the worlds population. This isn’t just a little country we’re talking about here. The U.S. is about 4% to put it in perspective. We are the weird ones guys! We are the ones that are laughed at!
1 Timothy 16: 15-16- he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
If we really believe that, that God has all the power, Satan has no power over this world. God determines whether Satan breathes. In light of that truth, shouldn’t we be excited to talk to this being, and excited to sing about him?
One of these days. God’s going to come down in all of this glory, with all of his angels. And he’s going to gather us all in one place everyone on the earth, and start dividing us, the sheep from the goats. He says you guys, I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, you cared for me. So come on. I’m going to bless you some much. Whatever you did for the least of these, you did it for me. And the ones who did do that, away into this eternal punishment!
If we really believe that, that us caring for our brothers and sisters, and how important that is, wouldn’t our lives be just about how much we can give?
We aren’t just people guys! God himself lives inside you! Read that again, and believe it. GOD HIMSELF LIVES INSIDE OF YOU!! THE GOD WHO CREATED THE WORLD!
And if out lives don’t look different then someone who doesn’t have God in them? That doesn’t make sense!
Faith and Friendship
I listened to this blog 2 days ago in Arkansas, but I didn't bring my computer, so I'm just now getting to post my notes, and to once again, insist that you listen to Breakaway Ministries podcasts. :)
This podcast was basically about being friends with people who aren't Christians, and about how to go about it without straying from your faith, and how to confront a friend that has fallen under worldly influence. So this is one that I would seriously prefer you to go listen to because I listened to this pretty late that night and my focus was a little off, and my notes are a little random and don't flow well, but i'm posting them anyway. Also, just because this is something that I feel is a necessity for every believer to be knowledgeable about, and you will learn more from Ben then you will from me.
This is not related to the podcast at all, but I'm so excited about it I just have to tell everyone. I just ordered Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis, his autobiography. This book shows you his journey on how he went from being an atheist to becoming a believer. And as you guys know, I quote him on Facebook everyday, and I will, probably for the rest of my life. So deal with it :) I'll probably post bits and peaces of it on here and Facebook pretty often, so watch for those.
Here's my podcast notes: (p.s. It'd be advisable to look up the bible verses as you go through this, theres a lot of history in there and if you don't already know it you might not follow this very well.)
2/7/2011
Breakaway Ministries
Faith and Friendship
(Life of Abraham)
Genesis 14
-Where is the Christian supposed to go? (social wise)
-An allegiance with Christ changes things.
-Impacts every area of life, including friendships.
-Abram is constantly brought to us in the bible as a model of walking by faith.
-Genesis 14:1-12.
-About war. Kings of the north vs. kings of the south. (Sodom and Gomorrah)
-4 kings take all of Sodom and Gomorrah’s stuff after the victory, including Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions.
-Who’s Lot?
-”Righteous Lot” aka, A believer.
-Lot chooses to live in Sodom, even though he knows it is said to be wicked. -Even though he is a believer, he has chosen to live among the Sodomites.
-So when the Sodomites make a bad decision, he pays for it too. Sound familiar?
-Lot is a representative of a believer who decides to make his closest social sphere those who don’t share that same allegiance.
-Lot is a great case for us to see that there should be some division.
-If you don’t:
1. Your going to reap what they sow.
2. Your going to adopt their ways
“Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals”
3. You end up having less of an impact as a believer.
-2 Corinthians 6:14- Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what of righteousness and wickedness have in common are what fellowship can light have with darkness.
-The believer is supposed to have a sense of distance.
-Abram has allies from different tribes. He strikes his balance where he’s in their world, but not of their world. Unlike Lot.
-He lives by then, not with them.
-Jesus did hang out with tax collectors and sinners, but he always kept that sense of distance.
-You can be the sober, Christian guy in the bar trying to make a difference, but after a year or two, what fruit have you seen?
-You should be able to have relationships with anybody whose willing, but remember, Jesus always went home to his disciples.
-Jesus kept a circle around him of the same allegiance.
-Paul was the same.
-Get close Christian friends that love you and will be with you for your lifetime.
-If you don’t have them, jump into a small group. But don’t forget about everyone else as you grow.
-When you have your crew, what happens when you see one of your friends go leaping head-long into depravity?
-Go get them, but go with wisdom.
-When Abram went and got Lot, he brought 300 men with him.
-Be merciful with doubters. Be gracious, but always do it with wisdom.
This podcast was basically about being friends with people who aren't Christians, and about how to go about it without straying from your faith, and how to confront a friend that has fallen under worldly influence. So this is one that I would seriously prefer you to go listen to because I listened to this pretty late that night and my focus was a little off, and my notes are a little random and don't flow well, but i'm posting them anyway. Also, just because this is something that I feel is a necessity for every believer to be knowledgeable about, and you will learn more from Ben then you will from me.
This is not related to the podcast at all, but I'm so excited about it I just have to tell everyone. I just ordered Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis, his autobiography. This book shows you his journey on how he went from being an atheist to becoming a believer. And as you guys know, I quote him on Facebook everyday, and I will, probably for the rest of my life. So deal with it :) I'll probably post bits and peaces of it on here and Facebook pretty often, so watch for those.
Here's my podcast notes: (p.s. It'd be advisable to look up the bible verses as you go through this, theres a lot of history in there and if you don't already know it you might not follow this very well.)
2/7/2011
Breakaway Ministries
Faith and Friendship
(Life of Abraham)
Genesis 14
-Where is the Christian supposed to go? (social wise)
-An allegiance with Christ changes things.
-Impacts every area of life, including friendships.
-Abram is constantly brought to us in the bible as a model of walking by faith.
-Genesis 14:1-12.
-About war. Kings of the north vs. kings of the south. (Sodom and Gomorrah)
-4 kings take all of Sodom and Gomorrah’s stuff after the victory, including Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions.
-Who’s Lot?
-”Righteous Lot” aka, A believer.
-Lot chooses to live in Sodom, even though he knows it is said to be wicked. -Even though he is a believer, he has chosen to live among the Sodomites.
-So when the Sodomites make a bad decision, he pays for it too. Sound familiar?
-Lot is a representative of a believer who decides to make his closest social sphere those who don’t share that same allegiance.
-Lot is a great case for us to see that there should be some division.
-If you don’t:
1. Your going to reap what they sow.
2. Your going to adopt their ways
“Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals”
3. You end up having less of an impact as a believer.
-2 Corinthians 6:14- Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what of righteousness and wickedness have in common are what fellowship can light have with darkness.
-The believer is supposed to have a sense of distance.
-Abram has allies from different tribes. He strikes his balance where he’s in their world, but not of their world. Unlike Lot.
-He lives by then, not with them.
-Jesus did hang out with tax collectors and sinners, but he always kept that sense of distance.
-You can be the sober, Christian guy in the bar trying to make a difference, but after a year or two, what fruit have you seen?
-You should be able to have relationships with anybody whose willing, but remember, Jesus always went home to his disciples.
-Jesus kept a circle around him of the same allegiance.
-Paul was the same.
-Get close Christian friends that love you and will be with you for your lifetime.
-If you don’t have them, jump into a small group. But don’t forget about everyone else as you grow.
-When you have your crew, what happens when you see one of your friends go leaping head-long into depravity?
-Go get them, but go with wisdom.
-When Abram went and got Lot, he brought 300 men with him.
-Be merciful with doubters. Be gracious, but always do it with wisdom.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
He’s authority over the whole world, because He’s God
So, watched another podcast tonight. I love to watch Ben Stuart just because he puts things so blunt and in your face that you can't help but get excited about it. So again, I urge you to subscribe to Breakaway ministry podcasts. And if you still don't or can't, my notes over this podcast will follow.
"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
C.S. Lewis.
That quote doesn't relate to the podcast much, but who cares, it kind of punches you in the face. :)
The Authority of Jesus
Mark 2: 1-12
-Everyone knows Jesus, but they know little about his life and what he actually said.
-They want to know a Jesus of their own, one they come up with in their head. Not reality.
-For the first decade after the death and resurrection there were no written accounts of it actually taking place, and all the prophets with the knowledge were dying off.
Jesus’ first impressions (Mark 1:14-15)
-Jesus’ first message.
-Repent, I want you to change your mind, and therefore the trajectory of your life. Because a new kingdom is here, a new situation, a new era has arrived.
-Not self-help advice
-Jesus picks up his first followers, Simon and Andrew (make you fishers of men story)
-He’s calling people to him and their response is IMMEDIATE and TOTAL. There leaving occupations and families. Whatever was primary before now becomes secondary.
-Back in the ancient world, disciples picked Rabbi, Rabbi didn’t pick disciples. So for Jesus to pick them and they just drop everything and follow is weird.
Mark 1:21- A full day in the life of Jesus
-They were astonished by his teachings because he taught with authority and not like one of the scribes. Scribes quoted to make them legit.
Mark 1:23
-Demon possessed guy calls Jesus out in the synagogue. Jesus says, “Enough,” and the spirit leaves the guy. No elaborate excosism, just tells him to stop.
-This guy comes in and starts talking like he owns the place, then this big spititual moment happens and he starts talking like he owns the place, then it started looking like he kind of did.
-The walk out asking who possesses spiritual authority like this guy?
Mark 1:29- First healing
-Who has authority over the physical world like that?
-At sundown, they brought everyone who was sick and everyone gathered at the door.
-What sticks out most in his first impression is his authority, not his wisdom or power.
-This guy commands people like he has the rights to command people.
-This guy commands spirits like he has the rights to command the spiritual world
-This guy commands nature as if he has the right to tell nature what to do and it responds.
-What kind of authority is this?
-What is the first thought who you think about Jesus? Is it the word authority? Commander? Or is it like they see him on South Park or Family Guy, real little and confused? They see authority.
-They’re not sure what to do.
-They put him in boxes they’re comfortable with.
1) Problem solver/Healer
-they come to him with needs they want met, that’s all.
-This is why some people reject Jesus. “Well, I don’t need help so I don’t need Jesus.”
-Jesus rejects it. He goes out into the wilderness the third morning and when Peter comes to find him saying things like “everyone’s looking for you!” basically saying, “Hey, we got this great little miracle thing going on, what are you doing out here!” Jesus says, “No, lets get out of here cause I wanna preach. The miracles are meant to serve a message.”
-Jesus won’t stay in their boxes.
Mark 2- The lowering the paralyzed guy through the roof so he can be healed story.
-He forgives the guys sins before he heals him
-Who has the right to forgive sins like that?
-This is not Jesus’ first miracle. Jesus says that on purpose. He’s setting up a confrontation, He is creating a moment.
-Mark 2:9
-Jesus asks which is easier. Your sins are forgiven, or get up and walk?
-On one side, “Your sins are forgiven,” is easier because you cant verify it by doing something. But in another sense, to say for sins are forgiven? Only God can say that.
-They cant answer that, so Jesus puts them together.
-So you know that I have the authority to do this unseen thing, I’m gonna do this seen thing. Get up and walk.
-Then Jesus runs into Matthew and his buddies and starts hanging out with them. A bunch of tax collectors. Sinners.
-Jesus starts picking fights with the leadership.
-Fights are always about his identity.
-”Hey, your religious, your not supposed to chill with the sinners.”
-”I an because I’m the physician.”
-“I don’t fit into the old ways of doing things.”
-The disciples weren’t fasting when everyone else was. When Jesus was asked why, he says they will later, but right now the BRIDE GROOM is here.
-Wildly offensive statement.
-Aside: Offensive because im the Old Testament, in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, God is always the Groom of Isreal.
-THEYRE NOT FASTING BECAUSE THE GROOM IS HERE.
-That is wildly arrogant, and he just says it and walks off.
-Jesus and the disciples were walking through a grain field and picking off the grain heads and eating the grains off them. Pharisees come up and tell them what they are doing is harvesting (Illegal in Sabbath). But instead of fighting with their narrow interpretation of the laws, he says “Your guys heart is off, you’ve made religion about following all these rules when its about people coming to know and enjoy God. You guys have totally missed it.”
-Jesus doesn’t stop there. He closes it with saying “I’m the Lord of the Sabbath.
-Extremely unnecessary for the argument, but hes not there to win an argument, he’s there to self identify.
-Jesus heals on the Sabbath (Illegal)
-Jesus picking a fight.
-By the end of this chapter, people are beginning to follow Jesus in crowds, and the Pharisees are plotting his death.
-2 responses.
-Im walking with you, or I want you dead. There is no mild amusement.
-3 responses to how Jesus moved in this chaper
-Hatred, adoration, terror
-Jesus is calling for you to acknowledge his authority.
-ONLY GOD CAN COME SAVE US. YEAH YOUR RIGHT, AND I’M HERE
-When someone claims authority over you there are only 2 responses, allegiance or rebellion. No middle ground.
Message: He’s authority over the whole world, because He’s God.
Response: Allegiance or Rebellion.
-you want authority, you don’t feel like it sometimes, but you do. There are times when enough happens when you realize you want someone in charge. Hurricane Katrina for example.
-”The record of kings is abysmal, full of tyranny. But where people are forbidden to honor a king, we honor millionaires, athletes, film stars, even famous gangsters. For spiritual nature, like physical nature, will be served. Deny it food, it will gobble poison.”-C.S. Lewis.
-There’s something in us that wants to serve something. Selfishness will make you alone.
-Look at what kind of King he is.
-sets people free, heals, invites you to walk with him, brings a joy like a wedding day. He will make religion about true rest, not about his approval. His kingdom gives you forgiveness that you cant get on your own. He’s the only person that become a slave to that will actually make you free.
"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
C.S. Lewis.
That quote doesn't relate to the podcast much, but who cares, it kind of punches you in the face. :)
The Authority of Jesus
Mark 2: 1-12
-Everyone knows Jesus, but they know little about his life and what he actually said.
-They want to know a Jesus of their own, one they come up with in their head. Not reality.
-For the first decade after the death and resurrection there were no written accounts of it actually taking place, and all the prophets with the knowledge were dying off.
Jesus’ first impressions (Mark 1:14-15)
-Jesus’ first message.
-Repent, I want you to change your mind, and therefore the trajectory of your life. Because a new kingdom is here, a new situation, a new era has arrived.
-Not self-help advice
-Jesus picks up his first followers, Simon and Andrew (make you fishers of men story)
-He’s calling people to him and their response is IMMEDIATE and TOTAL. There leaving occupations and families. Whatever was primary before now becomes secondary.
-Back in the ancient world, disciples picked Rabbi, Rabbi didn’t pick disciples. So for Jesus to pick them and they just drop everything and follow is weird.
Mark 1:21- A full day in the life of Jesus
-They were astonished by his teachings because he taught with authority and not like one of the scribes. Scribes quoted to make them legit.
Mark 1:23
-Demon possessed guy calls Jesus out in the synagogue. Jesus says, “Enough,” and the spirit leaves the guy. No elaborate excosism, just tells him to stop.
-This guy comes in and starts talking like he owns the place, then this big spititual moment happens and he starts talking like he owns the place, then it started looking like he kind of did.
-The walk out asking who possesses spiritual authority like this guy?
Mark 1:29- First healing
-Who has authority over the physical world like that?
-At sundown, they brought everyone who was sick and everyone gathered at the door.
-What sticks out most in his first impression is his authority, not his wisdom or power.
-This guy commands people like he has the rights to command people.
-This guy commands spirits like he has the rights to command the spiritual world
-This guy commands nature as if he has the right to tell nature what to do and it responds.
-What kind of authority is this?
-What is the first thought who you think about Jesus? Is it the word authority? Commander? Or is it like they see him on South Park or Family Guy, real little and confused? They see authority.
-They’re not sure what to do.
-They put him in boxes they’re comfortable with.
1) Problem solver/Healer
-they come to him with needs they want met, that’s all.
-This is why some people reject Jesus. “Well, I don’t need help so I don’t need Jesus.”
-Jesus rejects it. He goes out into the wilderness the third morning and when Peter comes to find him saying things like “everyone’s looking for you!” basically saying, “Hey, we got this great little miracle thing going on, what are you doing out here!” Jesus says, “No, lets get out of here cause I wanna preach. The miracles are meant to serve a message.”
-Jesus won’t stay in their boxes.
Mark 2- The lowering the paralyzed guy through the roof so he can be healed story.
-He forgives the guys sins before he heals him
-Who has the right to forgive sins like that?
-This is not Jesus’ first miracle. Jesus says that on purpose. He’s setting up a confrontation, He is creating a moment.
-Mark 2:9
-Jesus asks which is easier. Your sins are forgiven, or get up and walk?
-On one side, “Your sins are forgiven,” is easier because you cant verify it by doing something. But in another sense, to say for sins are forgiven? Only God can say that.
-They cant answer that, so Jesus puts them together.
-So you know that I have the authority to do this unseen thing, I’m gonna do this seen thing. Get up and walk.
-Then Jesus runs into Matthew and his buddies and starts hanging out with them. A bunch of tax collectors. Sinners.
-Jesus starts picking fights with the leadership.
-Fights are always about his identity.
-”Hey, your religious, your not supposed to chill with the sinners.”
-”I an because I’m the physician.”
-“I don’t fit into the old ways of doing things.”
-The disciples weren’t fasting when everyone else was. When Jesus was asked why, he says they will later, but right now the BRIDE GROOM is here.
-Wildly offensive statement.
-Aside: Offensive because im the Old Testament, in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, God is always the Groom of Isreal.
-THEYRE NOT FASTING BECAUSE THE GROOM IS HERE.
-That is wildly arrogant, and he just says it and walks off.
-Jesus and the disciples were walking through a grain field and picking off the grain heads and eating the grains off them. Pharisees come up and tell them what they are doing is harvesting (Illegal in Sabbath). But instead of fighting with their narrow interpretation of the laws, he says “Your guys heart is off, you’ve made religion about following all these rules when its about people coming to know and enjoy God. You guys have totally missed it.”
-Jesus doesn’t stop there. He closes it with saying “I’m the Lord of the Sabbath.
-Extremely unnecessary for the argument, but hes not there to win an argument, he’s there to self identify.
-Jesus heals on the Sabbath (Illegal)
-Jesus picking a fight.
-By the end of this chapter, people are beginning to follow Jesus in crowds, and the Pharisees are plotting his death.
-2 responses.
-Im walking with you, or I want you dead. There is no mild amusement.
-3 responses to how Jesus moved in this chaper
-Hatred, adoration, terror
-Jesus is calling for you to acknowledge his authority.
-ONLY GOD CAN COME SAVE US. YEAH YOUR RIGHT, AND I’M HERE
-When someone claims authority over you there are only 2 responses, allegiance or rebellion. No middle ground.
Message: He’s authority over the whole world, because He’s God.
Response: Allegiance or Rebellion.
-you want authority, you don’t feel like it sometimes, but you do. There are times when enough happens when you realize you want someone in charge. Hurricane Katrina for example.
-”The record of kings is abysmal, full of tyranny. But where people are forbidden to honor a king, we honor millionaires, athletes, film stars, even famous gangsters. For spiritual nature, like physical nature, will be served. Deny it food, it will gobble poison.”-C.S. Lewis.
-There’s something in us that wants to serve something. Selfishness will make you alone.
-Look at what kind of King he is.
-sets people free, heals, invites you to walk with him, brings a joy like a wedding day. He will make religion about true rest, not about his approval. His kingdom gives you forgiveness that you cant get on your own. He’s the only person that become a slave to that will actually make you free.
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