The Impenetrable Love

As I sit here and think about all of the things that have happened throughout my life I find myself with my jaw dropped to the ground. I wonder why it is that I am so happy? Why everything has worked out the way it has? Why my life has been changed in ways I would have never been able to myself? The only explanation I have is that God had mercy on me and gave me grace. The God of the universe, of everything you and I could ever imagine, has mercy on you too. Listening to Talmidim (The Servants) by For Today really just opens my heart and my eyes to what it is that the Lord has given to us.

This passage of the song really touches me every time I hear vocalist Mattie Montegomery speak it

"And through all of this, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, no fear, no insecurity, no doubt, no hesitation that will ever, ever stop us. Because we are the son of the living God. Because we are the children of the almighty. Because we are the residence of the kingdom of heaven and we are soldiers in an army of the immortal. And when we speak light, light happens. And when we speak healing, healing happens. And when we speak truth, truth happens. And when we go take what we found to a dead world, we will see it come to life again. When we take what we found to a hopeless world, we will see hope come back, we will see the hearts of our world start beating again and we will see the colour come back in peoples faces and absolutely nothing will ever stop that and mountains will move before us and oceans will pour before us and the dead will raise before us and the world will know that our God is a God that heals, that our God is a God that lives, that are God is a God that loves unlike anyone has ever felt before because we are fearless, because we are his hand, because we are his feet, forever and ever."

Every morning, before I go to work, I listen to this song and I pray almost the same things that this passage says. I am in utmost awe at what God has done for me. Looking at my childhood and how much pain I have suffered from then to where I am now is something I can't even begin to describe. I have had my dreams shattered, my family shattered, my own life shattered, been depressed, on the verge of suicide, drug usage, but the one thing that has always been in the back of my mind is God. His love for me and everything he has stuck with me through has never been so evident to me. Just sitting with everyone tonight and hanging out eating and celebrating Thansgiving really showed me what true love is. No, not that bullshit boyfriend/girlfriend true love, but the true love of Jesus Christ through His body. The wonderful people he has placed in my life have shown me so much and made me grow so much, every single one of them. I have never felt so at home and at peace in my life. I agree with Paul when he says that he is the worst of sinners, because I am that too. I fuck something up every day, I make someone upset every day and do something stupid every day, but God... He continues to bless me and show me how to walk in His ways.

I praise YOU Lord for everything.

Thank you.

Is fellowship important to the Christian believer?

Is fellowship important to the new Christian believer?

We all go through the excitement and the fulfillment of converting to a believer in Christ, but eventually that “mountain top” feeling wears off. After this feeling wears off we begin to doubt our motives and doubt those around us thinking: “Did I just do this because of the rush?” “Did I just do this because someone else asked me to?” “Is this really what I should be doing?” This idea is known, by the bible, as Dissonance. We begin questioning everything that we were so excited about. This plays into the biblical teaching of “Spiritual Warfare” and/or “Satanic Attack”. Once one has become a believer they automatically start rapidly excelling in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Satan does not like this. Satan is the supreme ruler and owner of this world and will try ANYTHING to get into the minds of a new believer to make them question their faith. Most people don’t look at this as being something possible because they don’t know that there is an evil spirit working against them. Whether new believer or long time believer we will ALWAYS have a fight between God and Satan, what separates us is our maturity level and knowledge of Christ to where we can put that in perspective every time we are faced with spiritual attack. Most of the time the new believer begins to question those around them wondering if these people are truly expressing this love or if they are doing it as a ritual. This is where the concept of fellowship comes into play. The Greek word for “fellowship” is “koinonia”. It means “fellowship”, “communion”, “participation”, “sharing in” and “close relationship”. Fellowship is an important privilege that God has given to us to counter the attack from Satan. Fellowship is a privilege because the physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer. I would like to note “strength to the believer”. Without fellowship in the believers in Christ we are left with no strength other than our own minds. Being a new believer makes it hard to be able to be strong with Christ on our own because we don’t have the knowledge of the elder Christians in the community in which we were brought to Christ. Going back to the Greek word for fellowship “koinonia” we see that fellowship is not only being together with other Christians but DOING together with other Christians! This is a concept that most of the worlds Christians today completely ignore! Fellowship is neither the relationship of being “in Christ” or the relationship of being “in Christ’s body” rather, Fellowship is “doing WITH” Christ. It is our partnership with Christ and with other believers that allows us to fulfill God’s will. Fellowship in the biblical meaning is defined as “a relationship of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in outer co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God’s will on earth.” Fellowship does not rest on the fact that it was solely a natural result of having the Holy Spirit in you, after accepting Christ, rather it is the indispensable means of accomplishing the GOD GIVEN purpose of the church. If we read Ephesians 3:8-11 we see, as Bob Gillam puts it. “Eph 3:8-11 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; 10 in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We see in this passage that God has an eternal plan. The church has a part in accomplishing that plan. The phrase “through the church” in vs. 10 shows that the church is to be God’s instrument in accomplishing His plan. The purpose of the church as stated in vs. 10 is to show to the world the manifold or in Greek, the many-faceted wisdom of God. So then, the purpose of the church is to hold God up to the world and display every glorious aspect of His being for all to see.

What is important to see here is that no individual working alone could ever fulfill this plan of showing every perfection of God for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So you see, the very nature of God’s plan necessitates the Godly capacities of many individuals added together to show His perfections to the world. You might say that God’s plan must be compared not to a solo but to a symphony. Its beauty is impossible to capture in one note no matter how loud. Only by a full orchestra playing together can the beautiful harmony be fully captured. And this is what the Church is, God’s orchestra! In order to fully manifest God, each person must not only play his part but must play it together. So in God’s symphony—His plan, the score is the Bible which reveals His Son, Jesus Christ. The instruments are our spiritual gifts and natural abilities. And the indispensable means we use to perform is fellowship, our co-participation in accomplishing His purpose. It is only as we WORK TOGETHER in this way that it is possible to accomplish God’s plan. This is why fellowship is important to the church.

Of course, some people TRY to do it all themselves. The movie, “Beau Gueste” is an example of the way some churches function. In the movie, the Arabs are attacking a foreign legion outpost. There are only four legionnaires left alive in the post. But they want the enemy to think they have lots of strength so they propped up the dead bodies of their comrades in the turrets and the four men ran around the walls shooting the dead men’s guns for them. This is the plan of many churches today. They hire a large staff of clergy to prop up the spiritually dead and fire their guns for them. But this will never accomplish God’s plan” I

I really like the way that Bob puts this because he clearly shows what the verse(s) in Ephesians were talking about. Bob Gillam also states “There is another group of people who are church-hoppers and non-participants. They think the church can make it without them. However, 1 Corinthians 12 makes it clear that every single member of the body is necessary for its proper functioning. Because of the importance of fellowship, no one has the right to amputate themselves from the functioning body of Christ, the local church.”

What ways can we go about practicing fellowship? What ways can we begin to follow God’s will accordingly?

Gillam states it the best “You can practice Fellowship by recognizing our goal as believers in Christ and taking an active part where you can best help.

People must recognize our goal. People often do not take part in a church because they see no clear purpose. Our purpose is to show God’s glory to the world in all the many ways He has instructed us in the Bible. We participate together seven days a week to glorify God, to do it His way, and to do it together.

You can practice fellowship by taking an active part where you can best help with this goal. You can discover where you can best help by recognizing your spiritual gifts and natural abilities and by knowing the needs of our church. Then help where you can make not just yourself, but the church as a whole, to be the most fruitful. If you do not know your spiritual gift, pitch in where you have a natural ability. As you work with others, your gifts will surface and you’ll find places you might function in our church according to your gifts and abilities. “ I like the way he clearly states “As you work with others, your gifts will surface” because this is so true. If we stand-by and only rely on ourselves, or others who aren’t followers of Christ our will in God and by God will never surface because we will not be able to gain any spiritual knowledge or grow spiritually.

I would like to end this with Gillams conclusion to his paper which I believe states this the best “Bob Gillam: When I was in junior high, I had a pastor who had spent a summer on a pipeline crew. The first day, he was given a shovel and a piece of ground and told to dig six feet deep and three feet wide. By noon, he had dug down over his head and felt all alone at his work. By the middle of the afternoon he was pretty discouraged as he thought of the miles of line still to be dug. Finally, however, about five o’clock, he broke through into the trench the man in front of him was digging. As he cleared away the loose dirt, this man broke through into the next hole, and as they stood and watched, man after man broke through until several hundred feet of ditch was visible and my pastor felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

This is the way fellowship will affect us if we get in and dig together. With the unity of the Holy Spirit and a divine purpose, we must all put our shoulders to the plow until God’s plan is complete.

So let’s pull together. Let everyone practice fellowship as naturally as did those on the day of Pentecost that the many-faceted wisdom of God might be made known through this church.”

Mark 4:1-20

Mark 4:1-20

The Parable of the Sower

Explains an objection we may have heard about Christianity.

1-9 Jesus is addressing a crowd and teaching them in a parable. First time that a point is being made that there is a huge group of people. When Jesus uses parables he is trying to hit home with a certain topic. People knew that he(Jesus) had power and that he(Jesus) was teaching against what they previously knew. The things Jesus said really backed up his point. Jesus uses two pleas in these verses by saying in verse 1 Listen and in verse 9 to hear and understand.

Reference Verses:

-Mark 2:1-2

10-20 Jesus isn’t at the lakeshore or in the boat anymore. The people that are against him are not in the room or hearing what Jesus has to say. Jesus is talking about the secret to the kingdom of God. This ‘secret’ is being revealed to them at that very moment. Up until Jesus came and started preaching his theology they had a thought of what they thought was the ‘secret’ of the kingdom of God. According to them Jesus didn’t fit the description that they thought the messiah was. Jesus description fits Isaiah 53 prediction in this verse but Jesus WILL fit the other predictions(Isaiah 9 and Micah 5) later in time. He will become King. The constant here is the seed. The seed is God. The variable is the soil (or us). The seed being planted depends on the variable or soil (us). Satan comes and takes away the seed and the soil. God wants us to question our beliefs and not just buy into whatever we are told.

Reference Verses:

-Romans 16:25-26

-Isaiah 9:6-7-Prediction of the messiah

-Micah 5:2-Prediction of the messiah

-Isaiah 53:1-3, 11, 12-Prediction of the messiah

-Romans 6:22-23

-John 1:1, 14

Galatians 5:22- Referencing the definition of ‘fruit’ from Mark 4:19.

Questions:

How has understanding God’s plan changed our outlook on life, affected us, and changed our interactions with other people?

How do we think that we can be the receptive soil?

-Responding in the first place. Taking action

-Don’t get completely defeated if something doesn’t go our way or we feel guilty about something.

James 4 4:10

James 4 4:10

Spiritual Infidelity

How do we go about addressing this problem?

James 4:4 James is telling these people they are acting like they hate god and they are being ‘adulterous people’. James says these people have been unfaithful to God just like a married one has been unfaithful to their spouse. This idea of using marriage as an illustration is shown throughout the whole bible. God wants a personal relationship with us. What does this mean? It tells us that our relationship with God is supposed to be one of loving choice. God does not force us to love him. It is the same way we would select a spouse and the same way we would select a lifelong partner. God desires that relationship with us, but we CHOOSE if we want the relationship or not. It also shows that our relationship with God is supposed to be intimate and in the context of a commitment. Just like a marriage where you are involved with that person in your everyday life. That is what God wants, to be involved with every aspect of your life. This is a lasting commitment. When we are unfaithful to God Spiritually it damages our relationship with God, just as if we damaged a relationship with a spouse by being unfaithful. Our relationship with God can be something we have to manage and may be keeping us from what we ‘really’ want to do, but God wants a REAL relationship with us and for us to be changed by his love. When we invest our affections elsewhere we end up having an awful relationship with God. James is saying in this verse that we are abandoning our relationship with God to have a ‘friendship with the world’. We tend to think that God can’t ‘pay our bills’ or ‘take our pain away’ so we run to other lovers (worldly things). We are committing spiritual adultery when we say that our lives are about our careers, money, etc.

Reference Verses:

2 Corinthians 11

Hosea 2:19 God is saying this is the relationship that he wants to have with his people.

Ezekiel 16:8 God using intimacy when he says what kind of relationship he wants with his people.

James 4:5 God has put his spirit in us. When we say that our love is meant elsewhere, from God, we make the spirit inside of us become envious. If a husband finds out his wife is messing around with another guy and the guy just says “Whatever” it shows that he really didn’t care about the relationship to begin with. Jealousy isn’t wrong as the previous sentence says. Usually it is the little decisions we make along the way that lead us astray from God. See QUESTIONS below.

Reference Verses:

Jeremiah 3:20 Our putting our love into material things puts pain inside of God. It hurts him to see us put our affections elsewhere(besides him). We convince ourselves that the Kosmos(see definition below) has everything we need.

James 4:6-10 The first thing we should do is remember who God is. James sometimes gets a bad rep for being outwardly focused. James always talks about wanting to follow God and remembering who God is. James says to stop letting our tongues get out of control and to stop letting ourselves get out of hand. Again, take a second and remember who God is. God is not the one who abandons us. WE LEAVE HIM. Although when we move towards God, he will move towards us just as quickly. We need to choose God over the Kosmos (see kosmos definition below). James says to mourn, grieve and wail when we walk away from God and then come back to him. This sounds a lot like what we would be doing if we were married and disobeyed, were unfaithful with, our spouse. When and if, that spouse decides to apologize they need to come out and tell the truth and be sorry, or repent. We need to stop making excuses for the things that happen to us and the things we go through. If we make excuses of how wrong our mentality and faithfulness has been, then we will never move forward spiritually. God opposes the proud but receives the humble. If we are willing to go before God with honesty and humility we will be accepted by God.

Adulterous- promising yourself to another(truth and faithfulness) then going behind their back and giving that promise to someone else etc.<--- Referring to marriage

Kosmos- means a system. Not referring to people whom populate the earth or anything of it. Protecting ourselves from the ‘people of the world’ is not what James 4:4 means. It means to consume our time in worldly things such as money, etc. Sensuality, ungodly pleasure, sex, money, fame, etc are some things we waste our love on. This controls our contentment. We look at what other people have and we want it for us. Materialism, Wanting people, Boastful pride, are also things we waste our love on. We as humans base what we want and who we are around what we WANT. How can I make myself look good? Feel good? People think that when they have all these worldly things they will be TRULY fulfilled.

Reference verses to Kosmos:

1 John 2:15-17

Questions:

What would be some signs that we would be giving into the world system?

-Lack of faith

-Distraction with things that SEEM ‘better’

-Unwillingness to admit fault, autonomy, us not being in touch with our own problems

-Looking at what your anxieties are. If we think that if we don’t get a job or lose a boyfriend or girlfriend is going to ruin our lives… then we need to re think what we actually care about and focus more on God

-When there was an absence of spiritual goals in our lives

-Being double minded

-If our effectiveness on the spiritual side dwindles

-Look at where you spend your time and thought life

-If you think that there is no way you will ever give into the ‘world system’. We trick ourselves

-Look at what you get excited about and what things annoy you. If you get excited about spreading the word of Jesus and the gospel. If people are the direct thing that annoy you.

-

Spiritual Infidelity:

Should we try to remove ourselves from the world? No, this is not what we our supposed to do(see below).

The goal is to remove the worldly system from our lives and replace that with the power of a thriving relationship with God.

We should feel a tension when we read about ourselves having a worldly view of things. If we don’t, then we have given ourselves over to the world already. We should have this tension in our lives everyday because we DO struggle with this.

Reference Verses:

-The whole book of Hosea talks about Gods graciousness and Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness.

James 2:14-24

James 2:14-34

Living Faith

More than the right words

Evidence by Obedience

Faith vs. Works?

14 “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him?” 15 “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.” 16 “If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well: keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” Not about having the right answer, it is not a quiz. People who say things but do not follow the things even they say. Are we just telling God what he wants to hear? It’s not just enough to SAY the right thing. We need to DO the right thing. If you think your faith is KNOWING what to do, then you are wrong, faith is ACTING upon what to do. If someone were to look at the things you SAY… would they be able to see your faith? 17 “In the same way, faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” 18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith, I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my ____” 19 “You believe that there is one God, good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder” Mental assent alone is not enough. You can say you believe in God, but that only puts you on the same level as Satan. Receiving a personal relationship with God is necessary to follow God in the right way. 20 “You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” 21 “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son on the altar?” 22 “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.” 23 “And the scripture was fulfilled that says ‘Abraham Believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness’ and he was called God’s friend.” God asked for Abraham to offer Isaac to Him as a sacrifice and Abraham went to do so, then God told him that he didn’t need to sacrifice his son anymore because God then saw that Abraham had all faith in Him. 24 “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” James was writing to the Jews using dikaioo differently. Meaning to RENDER righteousness, which means to SHOW that you have been made righteous. Verse 24 means to SHOW that you have faith and to SHOW that you have been justified. We only see what people do in their lives, this is OUR way to discern their faith. God can see into hearts… we cannot.

It is possible to know ABOUT God without KNOWING God. It is called Nominalism. It’s not just about BELIEVING.

Justified in greek is dikaioo which means “made right”.

What kind of faith do you have?

-Dead faith

-Merely words and beliefs

-Living faith

-Evidence by Obedience

Matt 5: 14-16

Luke 13: 24-27

Matthew 21: 28-31

Romans 3:28

Ephesians 2, 8, 9

Galatians 3: 8-9-11

James 1:9-18

James 1: 9-18

Temptation:

-Applies to everyone -Addictions; drugs, alcohol, sex, etc

-Guilt and shame -Can lead to spiritual destruction

-Alienation from God -Implied by trials

-Redefining evil

-Habituation

James Chapter 1: 9-18

Life is full of various trials. Chapter is full of mostly poor people who lost homes, property, livelihood, etc. Also says that rich people aren’t any better off. Materialistic trials endure with the richer people. Need to persevere under trails. “Every circumstance requires a decision”. Trials and temptations are everywhere, in every day, throughout your entire life. Don’t blame God when tempted. Sinning is a want. No one was MADE to sin. Sinning starts with our own evil desires. We rationalize our temptations. Become self righteous by saying “Well yeah that was bad, BUTTTT look what this person did”. We’ll cover it up by saying, “Oh it was only this little thing” or “It was only once/a little bit”. Always caught in a cycle of self guilt. Alienate yourself from others because you don’t want them to know what you have done. MindàActionàHabitàDeath. Always looking for things to fill the “void in your life” with whether it be drugs, women, sex, alcohol, etc. there is always something we are looking for to fill the void. Every temptation also begins with a lie. “This will make me feel awesome”, “This is what I NEED”, “This will help to meet everything I have been missing”.

Tempted: parazO, parazoS. Verb and Noun. One of these words (tempted/trials) imply the other. Tempted implies trials as to trials implying tempted.

James 1:26-2:8

James 1:26-2:28

Living out your faith; the way we view and treat others

26 “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless” 27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father, is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” It is important to take care of the poor, take care of social justice AND TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN MORAL LIVES! We need to make sure that we take care of ALL of these things. We cannot choose one or the other. Do not give special attention to CERTAIN people. All people, no matter what race, heritage, looks, ANYTHING, should be given our attention as potential spiritual believers, or even current believers and brothers and sisters. 3 “and if you pay attention to the one who wears fine clothing and say, You sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, You stand over there or sit down at my feet” 4 “have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” 1 “My brothers, show no partiality, as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the lord of glory” Do no judge based on what “our culture” or “our world” says is right or “in”. ex. The rich get more recognition and respect than the poor. Faith in Jesus leaves no room for discrimination. We discriminate because it makes us feel better about ourselves. When we tear others down we feel higher than them, making us feel better. Gal 3:28 “There is neither Jew, nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This was even said BACK IN ANCIENT TIMES! People in ancient times even knew discrimination was wrong. The bible preaches, as well as Christ Jesus, that we are all ONE IN CHRIST. We should adopt God’s heart for the poor and underprivileged. Do we act this way? Do we care about the poor and underprivileged? This is a moral issue that ALL Christians should change. Proverbs 14:31 “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God” Proverbs 29:7 “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” 8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well” Even if we open our bibles every day, hang out with Christians every day, go to church every day… we are still falling short of what God wants UNLESS we love our neighbors as ourselves. Unless we love people the way we care about ourselves. We tend to “self give love”. But we need to apply THAT thinking to OTHERS and not ourselves.

Summary:

-Our faith has direct implications for how we view and treat others.

-Our faith in Christ leaves no room for discrimination

-God’s heart for the poor concerns us with the poor too

-Loving God means loving others as ourselves.

-Take an honest look at how you view and treat others.

-God has a problem with our efforts to build ourselves up at the expense of others.

Become DOERS of the word.

Diakrinomal: standing in two different positions at the same time. Ex. Asking god for wisdom yet thinking that he will not give it to you.

James 1 19:25

James 1: 19-25

19 “My dear brothers take note of this; everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Adopt a listening posture. According to the bible, if you love God, you will love other people. Jesus said to his disciples that people will know you are a follower by the way you love one another. Your actions towards others will reflect the person you are and show others that you are a follower of Christ. 21 “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” Replace a sinful attitude with a receptive heart. Perfection vs. Repentance; Perfection is impossible in this world, but you need to look at your past mistakes and make sure that you attempt to change them and turn away from them. Turn towards God when you make mistakes. No one will be able to stop making mistakes, but you need to receive God’s word and replace the old, selfish, bad attitudes/decisions with a new, better, attitude from the word and will of God. Not only have a listening posture, but replace your sinful attitude with a receptive heart. 22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves, do what it says.” Take action on the word, do not simply hear it and blow it off. Let the power of God’s word be shown. Apply it to YOUR life and make sure that you do not deceive yourself in thinking that just listening will automatically apply the word to your life. 23 “Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” 25 “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” Struggling with negativity, deception; Look into the word because there is a cure for everything within the word of God. Confess your wrong doings. Ask others to help you by; holding you accountable for your actions so you know when and where you make these mistakes. Pray and think about what God has done for you and everyone else. Realize that Christ has forgiven us for everything, and anything, we have ever done or could ever do… so why not forgive others for their wrong doings. Ask God to show you what you can do to help yourself, and to help others.

Spend time getting into the “Word” (Bible), whether or not you pray every day.

Proverbs 1:5

“Let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance”

Proverbs 13:3

“He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin”

Proverbs 30:33

“For as churning the milk produces butter and as twisting the nose produces blood so stirring up anger produces strife”

Summary:

-Unleashing the words power, if you want to let God fully into your life and change your mistakes and sinful nature adopt a listening posture (with God and others), replace sinful attitude with a receptive heart, and take action upon those sinful doings, no matter how big or how small, take action to change that and make it better for not only you, but for everyone else.

What is the action step YOU need to take? What can you do to apply this to YOUR life?

If we want to listen to God, the first step is accepting and realizing what you need to do to acquire this. There comes a point where God says you need to learn how to do this on your own, reading the word, praying, understand/knowing God. Often times there are very practical steps we can take to solve our problems, yet we are stubborn and choose that what WE want is far greater than what God wants… although this is quite deceptive.

Mark 3:20-35

Mark 3:20-35

20-22; The scribes pharisees conclude that Jesus is possessed by demons and satan. He isn't working 'with' the scribes so they decide that he must be working 'against' them. The scribes knew that he was a great guy, but they decided they did not want to follow him.

Reference Verses:
Matthew 12:22-24; Jesus healed a demon possessed man whom was also deaf and blind and the pharisees concluded that Jesus was powered by satan.
Mark 3:6; The pharisees plotted on how to kill Jesus in this verse. The could not just come out and kill him because it would cause a riot so they needed to plot a way.

23-27; No tyrant like satan is going to fight against himself like Jesus fought against him. No one would fight against themselves because that is not the way to win. It is very illogical. It is a conspiracy theory that makes no sense. In all of Jesus' teachings and actions he was FIGHTING satan. Instead of Jesus being powered by satan Jesus demonstrates that he is demonstrating his power AGAINST satan. Jesus was freeing people from satans control and excorsizing people from satans control. Jesus is fighting to free and to help people. If you understand the bibles outlook on society and the world it will be easier to understand this.

Reference Verses:
John 12: 30-33; Jesus says that we are fighting against the prince of this world, Satan. Jesus says once he is rose on the cross we will be freed from satans captivity.
Mark 10: 25 Through Jesus death he came to ransom himself to free us from being satans hostages.
Romans 10: 9-10; Jesus says he will only free us if we ask. Jesus, out of love and respect for us, will free us from the grasp of satan, but only if we ask.
Hebrews 13; God is consistent with his love.

28-30; These verses show warning. By refusing to act on the love and grace of God it shows that you are selfish and unwilling. Look at verse 29 because it has held much controversy when it talks about never being forgiven for blasphemy. This verse actually talks about NEVER receiving Christ and never receiving the Holy Spirit, not blaspheming against Christ AFTER you have already been saved. Does not talk about the 'law' IE. adultery, murder, thieves, etc. <-- Those people are forgiven. Peter blasphemes Jesus right in front of his face yet he was forgiven and saved because he had accepted Christ. By rejecting the spirit we are saying that we do not want to be saved/forgiven. This attitude is wrong and self righteous. When we have this attitude we think that we are good enough to pay for our own sins. This is the concept of hell in the bible because you say you want to pay for your own sins and God accepts that and that is what hell is.

31-35; Jesus' family comes in and tells him that he needs to be careful and 'chill out' with what he is doing (his ministry, etc). This shows people trying to limit God/Jesus and setting expectations on God/Jesus. His family is trying to excersise restrictions over Jesus although they know all of the great things he has ever done.

Reference Verses:
John 14:23; Looking for those who will listen to the Word and Will of God.

Beelzebull(beelzebub) means the master of the house.


Questions:
Why would you know God's greatness and divinity yet refuse to follow him?
-May be afraid of God.
-Selfishness.
-Not following through.
-It could be a claim that you are greater than God. We think we can figure things out 'better' than God.
-Could be crazy.
-It is very dangerous to think this way because we are ultimately damning ourselves.

How have we seen that Jesus has freed us and been apparent through this in our lives?

Are you prepared to accept what the bible says?

How do we feel that we try to limit God; in the life of a believer?
-We try to keep things to ourselves and be in control of our own lives.
-When God asks you to do things that you are afraid of and we say no.
-Picking and choosing what aspects of his will YOU want to follow.
-Getting frustrated with God when your prayers that YOu want are not answered.
-We end up personally talking to others and saying what WE think they should change, instead of listening to what GOD thinks they should change, although that is not up to us.
-Not stepping out of our comfort zones for God's will.
-Prayer life; when we pray for small things because we are afraid that God can't answer or attend to bigger things.
-We only decide to do the things we WANT in the will of God.

When we do the things that God wants, we have a right to be scared. When the things that God wants work out it definitely makes us rely on God more and trust in him more.

To know that we have freedom in Christ is amazing. Someone will come in to empower us (Jesus) beyond our capability as humans.

The Jesus of the bibles time is the same Jesus of our time.