Netcast Church Podcast

<p>Jesus has said to his disciples, “I will rise on the third day.” He said it in Mark 8, again in Mark 9, and yet again in Mark 10. Given that repetition, something curious is going on. On the third day after Jesus’s death, there are no male disciples around; these female disciples do appear, but they are bringing along all the expensive spices and perfumes with which a dead body was customarily anointed. Nobody is expecting a resurrection. If you were the Gospel writer Mark, trying to write a credible piece of fiction, and you have had Jesus saying repeatedly to his disciples that he would rise on the third day, wouldn’t you have at least one disciple thinking this through after Jesus’s death and saying to the others, “Hey, it’s the third day. Maybe we ought to go take a look at Jesus’s tomb. What can it hurt?” That would only be reasonable. But nobody said anything like that. In fact, they did not expect a resurrection at all. It didn’t occur to them. The angel in front of the empty tomb had to remind the women: “You will see him, just as he told you.” If Mark had made up this story, he wouldn’t have written it this way. And here’s the point: The resurrection was as inconceivable for the first disciples, as impossible for them to believe, as it is for many of us today. Granted, their reasons would have been different from ours. The Greeks did not believe in resurrection; in the Greek worldview, the afterlife was liberation of the soul from the body. For them resurrection would never be part of life after death. As for the Jews, some of them believed in a future general resurrection when the entire world would be renewed, but they had no concept of an individual rising from the dead. The people of Jesus’s day were not predisposed to believe in resurrection any more than we are. Is it difficult for you to believe Jesus rose from the dead? How does Jesus' resurrection give you hope?</p>

<p>Father's Day. Jesus promises that we will be at this kingdom feast with him. With these simple gestures of holding up the bread and the wine, with the simple words “This is my body . . . this is my blood,” Jesus is saying that all the earlier deliverances, the earlier sacrifices, the lambs at Passover, were pointing to himself. Just as the first Passover was observed the night before God redeemed the Israelites from slavery through the blood of the lambs, this Passover meal was eaten the night before God redeemed the world from sin and death through the blood of Jesus. When the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am.” By replying as he does, Jesus is saying: “I will come to earth in the very glory of God and judge the entire world.” It’s an astounding statement. It’s a claim to deity. Of all the things Jesus could have said—and there are so many texts, themes, images, metaphors, and passages of the Hebrew Scriptures that he could have used to tell who he was—he specifically says he’s the judge. By his choice of text, Jesus is deliberately forcing us to see the paradox. There’s been an enormous reversal. He is the judge over the entire world, being judged by the world. He should be in the judgment seat, and we should be in the dock, in chains. Everything is turned upside down. And as soon as Jesus claims to be this judge, as soon as he claims deity, the response is explosive. Mark writes: “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him. (Mark 14:62–65) The high priest rips his own garments apart, a sign of the greatest possible outrage, horror, and grief. And then the whole trial deteriorates. In fact it’s no longer a trial; it’s a riot. The jurors and judges begin to spit on him and beat him. In the middle of the trial, they go absolutely berserk. He is instantly convicted of blasphemy and condemned as worthy of death. While you and I cannot literally spit in Jesus' face, we can still mock and reject him. In what ways are we prone to reject Jesus as God? What are some things that need to happen in your heart and mind so that you can sincerely take what Jesus is offering us through His Feast, His Community and His Crucifixion?</p>

<p>In this encounter, Jesus is saying that there is something radically wrong with all of us—but money has particular power to blind us to it. In fact, it has so much power to deceive us of our true spiritual state that we need a gracious, miraculous intervention from God to see it. It’s impossible without God, without a miracle. Without grace. Consider how Jesus counseled this young man. Yes, this man needed counseling, though on the outside he looked completely pulled together. He was rich, he was young, and he was probably good-looking—it’s hard to be rich and young and not be good-looking. But he didn’t have it all together. If he had, he would never have come to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Any devout Jew would have known the answer to this question. The rabbis were always posing this question in their writings and their teachings. And their answer was always the same; there were no differing schools of thought on this one. The answer was “Obey the statutes of God and avoid all sin.” The young man would have known this answer. Why then was he asking Jesus? Jesus’s perceptive statement “One thing you lack” allows us to capture the gist of the young man’s struggle. The man was saying, “You know what, I’ve done everything right: I’ve been successful economically, successful socially, successful morally, successful religiously. I’ve heard you’re a good rabbi, and I’m wondering if there’s something I’ve missed, something I’m overlooking. I sense that something is lacking.” Of course he was missing something. Because anyone who counts on what they are doing to get eternal life will find that, in spite of everything they’ve accomplished, there’s an emptiness, an insecurity, a doubt. Something is bound to be missing. How can anyone ever know whether they are good enough? How can you pursue a successful career and not succumb to the trap wealth creates? What are some ways the gospel has changed—or could change—your attitude about money?</p>

<p>God has built into every human heart the desire to succeed at whatever we do. This is part of our humanity; to want to succeed. However, Jesus explains to His disciples the true way to greatness. “It is not by seeking to be first,” He said. “It is by a willingness to be last. It is not by getting people to serve you; it is by becoming a servant of all.”There are two kinds of ambition. There is the ambition to be approved and applauded by people, and the ambition to be approved and applauded by God. There are those who want to gain fame and attention and influence and power. The measurement of the ambition to be great before people is always “How many serve me? How much power do I exercise over others? How wide is the extent of my influence?” Who of us has not suffered many times from this desire to be known, to be admired, to be considered great? But Jesus points out that true greatness is never found there. The measure of true greatness is “How many do I serve? How many can I help?” This is the mark of greatness in the eyes of God. Christianity is a radical faith! It is exactly the opposite of the natural instincts of the heart. Our natural inclinations will get us deeper and deeper into trouble. Though we may achieve a form of greatness in the eyes of people, it will turn into cobwebs and ashes in our hands. Teach me the meaning of these words in the depths of my heart. Help me to strive for that greatness that will shine throughout eternity. What does Jesus teach as a radically different criterion for greatness and power? Do our lives reflect a growing understanding and application of His teaching & example?</p>

<p>“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. (Mark 7:28–30) In other words, she says, "Yes, Lord, but the puppies eat from that table too, and I’m here for mine." Jesus has told her a parable in which he has given her a combination of challenge and offer, and she gets it. She responds to the challenge: “Okay, I understand. I am not from Israel, I do not worship the God that the Israelites worship. Therefore, I don’t have a place at the table. I accept that.” Isn’t this amazing? She doesn’t take offense; she doesn’t stand on her rights. She says, “All right. I may not have a place at the table—but there’s more than enough on that table for everyone in the world, and I need mine now.” She is wrestling with Jesus in the most respectful way and she will not take no for an answer. I love what this woman is doing. In Western cultures we don’t have anything like this kind of assertiveness. We only have assertion of our rights. We do not know how to contend unless we’re standing up for our rights, standing on our dignity and our goodness and saying, “This is what I’m owed.” But this woman is not doing that at all. This is rightless assertiveness, something we know little about. She’s not saying, “Lord, give me what I deserve on the basis of my goodness.” She’s saying, “Give me what I don’t deserve on the basis of your goodness—and I need it now.” Do you see how remarkable it is that she recognizes and accepts both the challenge and the offer hidden within it? A good translation of Jesus’s rabbinical reply to her would be “Such an answer!” Some of the translations have Jesus saying “Wonderful answer, incredible answer.” And so her plea is answered and her daughter is healed. How will the faith of the Gentile woman affect the way you approach God?</p>

<p>Sometimes when I go to Jesus, he lets things happen that I don’t understand. He doesn’t do things according to my plan, or in a way that makes sense to me. But if Jesus is God, then he’s got to be great enough to have some reasons to let you go through things you can’t understand. His power is unbounded, but so are his wisdom and his love. Nature is indifferent to you, but Jesus is filled with untamable love for you. If you have a God great enough and powerful enough to be mad at because he doesn’t stop your suffering, you also have a God who’s great enough and powerful enough to have reasons that you can’t understand. Is following Jesus safe? Of course it's not safe. Who said anything about being safe? But Jesus is good. He’s the King. In an effort to convey who Jesus is and what He did, Mark, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has rushed into powerful stories that carry cosmic implications to the broken world in which we live. We can all relate to the desperation of the people in today’s text. Nearly 2000 years later, we experience similar brokenness and helplessness. Mark shows all readers that there is One who brings hope, wholeness, and ultimate authority to even the worst of life’s shattered situations. Jesus came back from the far side of the Sea of Galilee, where He restored a demon-possessed man (at the expense of many pigs). Jesus was asked by the terrified residents of the area to leave. As He returned by boat, He was once more surrounded by multitudes that wanted to gain something from being close to Him. The themes in these two stories are that Jesus cares for those in trouble and He can do what is impossible for you and me. Nature, demons, diseases, and even death surrender completely and immediately to His sovereign authority! Do you know anyone who came to Jesus in desperation, convinced He was the only One who could help? Have you ever felt this way? What does the woman’s healing tell us about the role of physicians and the role of faith? Have you ever been frustrated with God’s timing? Have you ever felt He waited until it was too late–but then He came through?</p>

<p>Mother's Day. Jesus knows something the man doesn’t know— that he has a much bigger problem than his physical condition. Jesus is saying to him, “I understand your problems. I have seen your suffering. I’m going to get to that. But please realize that the main problem in a person’s life is never his suffering; it’s his sin.” If you find Jesus’s response offensive, please at least consider this: If someone says to you, “The main problem in your life is not what’s happened to you, not what people have done to you; your main problem is the way you’ve responded to that”—ironically, that’s empowering. Why? Because you can’t do very much about what’s happened to you or about what other people are doing—but you can do something about yourself. When the Bible talks about sin it is not just referring to the bad things we do. It’s not just lying or lust or whatever the case may be—it is ignoring God in the world he has made; it’s rebelling against him by living without reference to him. It’s saying, “I will decide exactly how I live my life.” And Jesus says that is our main problem. Jesus is confronting the paralytic with his main problem by driving him deep. Jesus is saying, “By coming to me and asking for only your body to be healed, you’re not going deep enough. You have underestimated the depths of your longings, the longings of your heart.” Everyone who is paralyzed naturally wants with every fiber of his being to walk. But surely this man would have been resting all of his hopes in the possibility of walking again. In his heart he’s almost surely saying, “If only I could walk again, then I would be set for life. I’d never be unhappy, I would never complain. If only I could walk, then everything would be right.” And Jesus is saying, “My son, you’re mistaken.” That may sound harsh, but it’s profoundly true. Jesus says, “When I heal your body, if that’s all I do, you’ll feel you’ll never be unhappy again. But wait two months, four months—the euphoria won’t last. The roots of the discontent of the human heart go deep.” Why was forgiveness the paralytic’s deepest need? Why is it our deepest need? What other “needs” do we feel are deeper than our need for forgiveness?</p>

<p>The gospel isn’t advice: It’s the good news that you don’t need to earn your way to God; Jesus has already done it for you. And it’s a gift that you receive by sheer grace—through God’s thoroughly unmerited favor. If you seize that gift and keep holding on to it, then Jesus’s call won’t draw you into fanaticism or moderation. You will be passionate to make Jesus your absolute goal and priority, to orbit around him; yet when you meet somebody with a different set of priorities, a different faith, you won’t assume that they’re inferior to you. You’ll actually seek to serve them rather than oppress them. Why? Because the gospel is not about choosing to follow advice, it’s about being called to follow a King. Not just someone with the power and authority to tell you what needs to be done—but someone with the power and authority to do what needs to be done, and then to offer it to you as good news. Where do we see that kind of authority? Jesus’s baptism has already been attended by supernatural signs that announce his divine authority. Then we see Simon, Andrew, James, and John follow Jesus without delay—so his call itself has authority. Mark continues to build on this theme: "They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law." (Mark 1:21–22) Mark uses the term authority for the first time; the word literally means “out of the original stuff.” It comes from the same root as the word author. Mark means that Jesus taught about life with original rather than derived authority. What would your life look and feel like if you fully surrendered to this perfect King? Your work life? Love life? Family life? Financial life? Social life?</p>

<p>Christians are thought to be people who live better, when in actuality we simply believe different. As followers of Jesus, we are justified by faith which is evidenced in a life marked by turning from ourselves and walking towards Christ. It is faith followed by good works. We don’t try to manufacture the Christian life because we can’t do it. Therefore we trust that, by faith, Christ's life is living through our daily death.</p>

<p>If you look around the world today, you'll realize, that something is wrong. Oddly enough, every religion and worldview, has to answer the problem of what's going on around us. However, Romans 3 diagnoses the human condition with a paradox that I’m convinced rings true in all of our lives. The problem is not merely what's around us, but rather, we are all corrupted by something with us. Sin!</p>

<p>Justification isn't just a theological concept, it's a sense of approval and belonging that everyone desires. Justification means that in God's eyes, we are given Jesus' perfect record. We are treated as if we had the perfect resume and lived the perfect life. And the best news of all is that we get this, not from doing anything, but simply by trusting in what Christ ha done.</p>

<p>There are many Old Testament prophecies about Jesus Christ. Some interpreters place the number of Messianic prophecies in the hundreds. This week we will look at the story of God and how all of it comes together in a specific point in history where God comes to earth by taking on flesh and blood.</p>

<p>Jesus had to suffer and die to rescue people from the prison of sin, and then He would establish His reign. Therefore, Jesus tells his cousin, John, that as the Messiah, he needs to trust Him because He knew what He was doing. That sounds minor until we realize that Jesus was telling John that it was a part of His plan for him to die in prison. This begs the question, when we don't get what we want, do we still trust Jesus?</p>

<p>Close to the end of his earthly life, Jesus prophesies another beginning by telling the people to watch out for the Messiah's return. When Christians think about Christ's return we often struggle with the difficulty of living in expectation while not being quite sure what to expect. In Matthew 24, Jesus outlines some clear expectations of what is to come and calls us to respond by living a life of urgency.</p>

<p>Advent is a Christian season observed as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Jesus at Christmas. The term comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming". For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for his Second Coming. This week we will look at the anticipation of His first coming.</p>

<p>Money is one of the main things we use to fight anxiety and keep control. In Matthew 6, Jesus warns us against being anxious about the various cares of life by addressing how we ought to view our money. Rather than worry over things we cannot control, or trying to purchase control, we should "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.</p>

<p>The dictionary defines sacrifice as “anything consecrated and offered to God.” As believers, how do we consecrate and offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice? In John 12 we see a sacrifice that will help us answer that question.</p>

<p>When scripture talks about generosity, it talks in terms of giving to God in an orderly fashion. Many Christians neglect giving to God first and rather settle for giving God leftovers. Giving God our firstfruits sets a pattern of giving back to Him the first (and the best) of what He has given us and illustrates giving to God from a grateful heart.</p>

<p>Throughout scripture the Bible talks about money by referring it to issues of the heart. We are to give back to the Lord, joyfully and sacrificially and in return we will be blessed. We are to use our money to help others, but with discernment and the guidance of God’s Spirit. Deuteronomy 15 outlines for us how we are to guard our hearts by stewarding our money in a way that receives Gods blessing.</p>

<p>Although Jonah still had a terrible attitude, it was an act of compassion for the Lord to provide the covering protection for Jonah. However, when his heart saw a plant as his ultimate joy, it was an even greater act of kindness for the Lord to remove it. In kindness the Lord allows comforts, but he can remove them at a stroke to teach us that our joy should be in him alone.</p>

<p>Nineveh's reaction to Jonah sparked one of the most remarkable revivals in all of history. In this text we see God's response to our repentance. God's threat of distraction was removed and compassion when he saw the grief that was genuine. When we repent of our sin and from our own wicked ways, God is faithful to extend his mercy towards us.</p>

<p>Jonah preached a message that was extremely short and theologically incomplete. But he spoke it with the anointing and power of God and among the people who God appointed to hear his voice. Likewise, our efforts of evangelism have a little to do with us and everything to do with God.</p>

<p>Inside the great fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God and worshiped Him with Thanksgiving. The traditional understanding is that Jonah was alive for three days in the belly of this fish. The horrific event of being stuck in the stomach of a live creature swimming through the depths of the sea is minor in comparison to the experience that Jesus had in his death.</p>

<p>When the storm hits, people tend to get extremely spiritual. In this text we will see The God typically uses the painful circumstances in our lives to draw us closer to Him.</p>