mark 10

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God

We have talked about this before but here it is coming from Jesus own lips, being rich may feel good here on earth but it makes it hard to get to heaven.  We are certainly rich in the US and I would suggest even within the US we are rich, so we must be onguard to prevent thinking our worldly riches are worth hanging onto.  This is why I think tithing is important for the giver not the church.  If we are not able to give back out if our first fruits at least 10% what is truly his to begin with I would suggest we are holding on to tight.  I'll admit there are moments when I think wow if I would not be tithing I could afford some of the stuff others have or could be way ahead on retirement..but where do I want my riches to be stored up?  I can really see why its a must for me to continue to tithe and beyond.  I think the saddleback pastor locked in a cost to kive by and gives all else away and now he is living on a small % of earnings.   Food for thought.

Knut

Mark 9

12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

This chapter covers a ton of ground again, I liked these versus because they connect back to Malachi 4 that we just read.  We have covered enough ground in our reading now that we have opportunities to see how the bible is perfectly constructed and interwoven...I like it.  Notice I said opportunities, I'm sure I'm already missing plenty of connection points but this one hit me because we just read it a couple weeks back.

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

we could spend days on this chapter alone.  Here is another great one that is easy to relate to, I do believe yet I have doubt...help me!

The transfiguration must have been unbelievable to witness too.

completely random today.
knut

Mark 8

35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

This verse is always convicting for me.  Have I really been willing to lose my life, my choices and truly follow Him?  I can't type yes.  I want to, but if I'm honest there are many times my thoughts and plans are for my aspirations not His.

knut

Mark 7

9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[c] your own traditions!

This smacked me a little this morning.  What a wonderful time of year, I love the up coming Christmas break we get at work and the kids from school.  I love all the time we get to spend together.  Yet its ironic that in the US we have a tendency to make this time of year about the gifts we get not the gift He is.  Now as I have gotten older its definitely not about the gifts for me, but finding the right gift for the kids or Gina which isn't bad in and of itself.  But in the US where we have so much wealth we all have the risk of worshiping the god of have great stuff.  What is worse, we instill this in our kids starting at a very young age.  So here one of our most important holiday's, the celebration of the birth of the world' Savior has been set to the side not completely eliminated certainly diminished as we observe our tradition of opening lots of great stuff!

no harm intended, but certainly a potential for harm created.

So as we approach Christmas day, here is to trying to keep Jesus at the focal point!

knut

Mark 6

5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.

and

 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.


So this seems like about 5 chapters rolled into 1, who decided how to break these books into chapters and versus anyway?...that discussion is for another day.


early in the chapter it caught my attention that Jesus could not do many miracles and it seems to be directly tied to their lack of faith.  Then late in the chapter he is walking on water right after feeding the 5,000+ and his own disciples are said to not have understood he performed a miracle and they don't recognize him or even expect that he could be capable of walking on water.

I don't know where I'm going with this other than to note how difficult it is for humans to have faith, you would think people in his homeland and his own disciples would have the opportunity to have grown in faith more than the average Joe.  Yet they seem just as clueless as anyone else.  What do we need to do to make sure we don't have the same short comings?

knut

Mark 5

36 Overhearing[c] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

So he was addressing the family of the little girl who had died, but I thought this quote was something we can all use.  Pretty simple, if we believe in Him there is nothing to be afraid of in this world. 

Its no guarantee that life will be easy but at the same time nothing in this world is too big for Jesus to help us with.

knut

Mark 4

There are several easy things to pick out this morning, but I won't do that.
This verse caught my attention.

⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

this line struck me, right in line with everything else we have been talking and reading about lately.  We need to actively be seeking his voice and direction.  I think that's what he's saying here.  He knows that some people are gobbling up his teachings and yearning for more....and others just wish he would go away.  Although he came for all.  He knew his message would only get thru the firewall on a select few.  That had to be very frustrating for him.

I need to make sure my ears are tuned in to his frequency, and not so much to the frequency of the world.

tp

Mark 3

Wow he's covering so much ground in each chapter that its hard to isolate your thoughts in one are but here is one the hit me right away--

2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 

What hit me about this was they were trying to see if they could catch him in a trap.  Would he do a miracle on the Sabbath, if he does heal someone on this day we got him!  Ha he surely is not the Son of Man!

Wait Jesus is running around doing miracle after miracle, healing the sick on a daily basis so they know they have a shot at catching him screwing up and working on a Sunday.  They didn't doubt his ability to do a miracle just whether or not he would be dumb enough to do it on a Sunday.  Have they lost their minds?

I just find interesting that he has been performing the supernatural on such a regular basis that the Pharisees are way past trying to discredit the authenticity of his acts and have moved on to try a different angle--the 'letter of the law' trap.

The crowds are gathering because there is something different about this guy--they may not all know exactly what but let's be clear He is performing miracles that would blow our minds and people are dropping what they are doing to try to get near him.  There is no Twitter or social meeting to spread the word, but clearly the word is spreading.

We are reading about Jesus 2,000 years later because he wasn't just some guy but because He is the Messiah.  For me today the Pharisees after thought of Jesus ability to perform miracles is just another point of affirmation of who He is and therefore why I need to continue to eat up the words from this book written thousands of years ago.

I may have gone off the reservation a bit today--sorry for rambling.
knut

Mark 2

All I have to say this morning is........."is this thing on?"
hahahahahahah!


¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I love it when Jesus says things like this.  It means something completely different to him than it means to the audience it was intended for.  To the priests.....I'm sure they heard this line with the understanding that they are the righteous.  But, in reality, I think Jesus was saying he has come for everyone....cause we're all sinners. 

He's so smart.....

Mark 1

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 

This just struck me as I sit here on my couch a 5:37am, it is pitch dark, its so quiet I hear all the noises of the house that normally go unnoticed during the day.  Ticking of the clock, hum of the refrigerator.  Its probably the only shot I have during a day of being in a solitary place.  Reading this verse is a reminder to me that if Jesus needed to get to a solitary lace to pray, I should probably make sure I do the same at times to connect with our Maker one one on without distractions.

Mark 1 covers a lot of ground, I like the connection right off the bat to the old testament.  We just left Malachi where in Ch3 he tells us a messenger with prepare the way and here we are at the beginning of the chapter reading about the fulfillment of that prophesy.

good stuff.
knut

Malachi 4

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”


Today I was doing research on Elijah and found that John the Baptist coming as the spirit of Elijah in fulfillment of this prophecy is very controversial.  There are volumes of writing on the subject, and it is apparently a key to why Jews do not believe Jesus was the messiah because they expect Elijah to return literally from heaven ahead of Jesus and since they haven't seen that then it follows Jesus couldn't be the messiah.

Jesus himself said in Matthew that was a fair question, but he pointed out that Elijah had come and wasn't treated very well---aka John the Baptist.

It is all so fascinating to me and I wish I could spend even more time coming and reading and studying it.  It makes me realize I would not have been prepared to recognize Elijah and I certainly don't want to be unprepared when Jesus returns.

knut
p.s. so we wrapped up the minor prophets, should we head to one of our remaining New Testament chapters during this Christmas month?

Malachi 3

Oh boy!  not good today

Referring to Tithing.
Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it

I have some work to do here.....its very easy.  But REALLY hard to make happen.
Kim and I are consistent givers,  we have the direct withdrawl thing set up.  Only problem is.....we've had it set up for 5ish years and have never changed it.....and I've had several really generous promotions here at GM.  The sum of the withdrawl no longer fits the proportion I should be giving.  I need to get it back in line.  Those kind of paper work things seem to be really hard for me to do.  Not that I'm afraid of giving that much, or that I don't think I should.  I'm just too lazy to call the finance lady and change it.  Its sad really!

But, I COMPLETELY agree with the verse above.  I was just having this conversation with someone, last week.  Test him, I said...you won't be disappointed.

tp

Malachi 2

I didn't really grab much today.  Although, this verse jumped out at me, especially in the context of what we were talkin about yesterday.

¹⁵ Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring

I find myself trying to walk a really fine line with the kids lately.  I really want to give them the opportunity to find their own faith.  I don't want to force it one em.  But, when I relax a little....they seem to not be as interested.
As I'm writing this........a phrase is kicking me in the head.
"be the example"
If I model it, they will be much more likely to follow it, than if I'm just preaching it.

part II
Don't get divored!.....or cheat on your wife.

For me....that's not hard to do.

Malachi 1

11 “I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They’re saying it everywhere: ‘God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.’


This reminds me of going to Willow Creek over 20 years ago.  Bill Hybels did a sermon maybe even out of this chapter where he was talking about honoring God with our gifts.  He put some big challenges out, told the congregation let's raise a million dollars before Christmas.  He was explicit this was above and beyond our tithes (which at the time I wasn't even giving anything).  I believe it was all in the same service he talked about and maybe you'll go donate clothes to some local charity in need--he said here's an idea don't donate some used clothes even ones in perfect shape.  He said go buy some new clothes and donate those.  He was talking about giving our first and our best to Him.  I don't have all the same eloquent words he used but reading the chapter today tells me he must have impacted me on that day with his words over 20 years ago because I realize I still think about it today.  I'm not even sure how much I realized it was biblical when he was preaching it, but as I read today I see it sure is.

So today and everyday I will strive to give Him my best.

knut

Zechariah 14

9 God will be king over all the earth, one God and only one. What a Day that will be!

I don't have many thoughts or comments, but its hard to imagine the day that all the doubt leaves the world and the certainty of who God is becomes real to everyone on the planet.  It will be a scary reality for some.

knut