WALK WITH JESUS IN 2014.
It's an amazing co-incident that I see this post from Gurupreet after I just finished this morning a conversation with Uncle Narsimha Rao about our arduous 90 minute WALK yesterday from Hahei beach to Cathdral Cove. 

Uncle pointed certain similarities between our walk yesterday to our Christian walk. Here they are -
1. It's not easy. It requires conscious effort
2. There will be a constant urge to give-up and go back
3. We will give up if we are not with a team (Church)
4. The destination will be so joyful that is inexpressible
5. When you can not do it any more, the Lord takes care (boat-journey back)

So, let's roll up our sleeves, get on to the WALK, and expect great things from God.

There were two aspects to the study last night: The first was to look at the key steps in obtaining the mercy of the Lord:

1. The Syro-Phoenician Woman identifies a problem at home and calls it a problem
   
2. Then she realises that the problem is beyond her capcity to overcome
   
3. Thirdly she recognizes the Person who only is the solution to her problem
   
4. She readily accepts her condition and does not presume to be anything better than what Jesus calls her - a dog, fallen short of the glory of God.
   
5. She finally persists enough to bend the 'Will' of the Lord
   

Thus she becomes the perfect model as to obtain the mercy of the Lord. Her birth, race, background and country made her unqualified for blessing but her faith made it possible. The bigger picture we get here is salvation shared to gentiles..The famous verse John 3:16 says - “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” God gave Himself in Jesus for everyone not for a race or set of people, but only people who believe in Jesus can receive the salvation/blessing. Even not many of the Jews were believers but when they encountered Jesus they believed and received the blessing

The second aspect was Jesus' unresponsiveness to the woman's need and on top of that, his seemingly 'insulting' remarks (v27). But for the realistic account of the Gospel writers, we would never imagine such a speech from the lips of our loving Saviour.

Why was He so insulting to the woman and her daughter? Jesus' treatment of her dramatically shows that none of us has a right to God's love and compassion. Christianity is about grace, about mercy, and about God bestowing His love and compassion on those who are unworthy. No sinner has a right or a claim to His love. This is true of the Israelites as well. The first three chapters of Romans shows us that Jews and Gentiles are all sinners and that none of us, in ourselves, have a right to God's love. This woman was a sinner, like the rest of us, unworthy of God's love.

Jesus' response also highlights the order of priority. Jesus' first priority was to set the 'home' right first. Many of us ignore home & preach the public as if it is the 'others' who need salvation. Remember Jesus' complaint? "...why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? (Matt 7:3). And His public rebuke on his way to crucifixion: Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children (Luke 23:28).

Finally, all the spiritual blessings offered in the Bible are NOT for everyone. They are only for those who are in Christ Jesus - the children of God, i.e. God's own family. 

The way to be in Christ is to repent, or turn away from our sins (Acts 17:30), confessing to God that we are sinners (Romans 10:9). When we believe that Christ died to take our punishment and now lives to give us new life (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), He grants us forgiveness of sins and all the blessings that accompany that salvation. 

As His children, we are then expected to obey Him and keep His commands (Proverbs 8:32), which keeps us in right relationship to Him, resulting in His continued blessing on us. This work of maintaining our relationship with God keeps us in the place of abundant blessings (2 Peter 1:3-8).

The Scripture for tonight's Bible study comes from Mark 6:30-56. 
Very interesting points discussed tonight:
The miracle offers insight into the person of Jesus Christ...

• a. His compassion for the souls and bodies of mankind
  

• b. His power to provide for every need of man
  
• c. His orderliness in the work He sets out to perform

The miracle secondly offers insight into the tendency of man...

• To do their own will first before seeking the will of God
  
• To leave God out of equation until it becomes impossible
  
• To lose heart when in a problem & can't see God right there
  
• To misunderstand the will of God
  
• To seek after material things of the world
  
• To be dull of heart, which leads to all of the above
  

The miracle thirdly offers teaching to a disciple/a believer...

• Jesus is the bread of life & when you distribute it, you go back to Him for the refill
  
• All your talents (money, time, resources, fish & chips) will multiply when you willingly put into the Lord's hands. Then it will not only meet your need but others also 'will eat and satisfy'
  
• Without the quiet time with the Lord, you will lose focus, direction & purpose
  

From the the next portion of Scripture (Mk 6:7-13), we can glean some "Principles Of Evangelism"

1. The Principle of Staying & working in two-by-two, but not alone (Mk 6:7; Matt 18:19)
   
2. The Principle of staying dependent on God for sustenance (Mk 6:8 & 9) & subject matter (Mk 6:12)
   
3. The Principle of Staying faithfully where the Lord has placed you, rain or shine (Mk 6:10)
   
4. The Principle of leaving matters of judgement to God (Mk 6:11)
   

in order to reap the harvest (Mk 6:13)

To begin with we'll talk about the first portion from the Scripture (Mark 6:1-6):

1. I was reminded of the saying "familiarity breeds contempt", which means the better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them and dislike things about them. The people of Nazareth knew Jesus as a carpenter and the son of a carpenter - Mk 6:3 & Mt 13:55; the son of Mary, with brothers and sisters - Mk 6:3. Because of familiarity, they did not respect Him as a prophet
2. At first JESUS' COUNTRYMEN were impressed by His teaching - Mk 6:2 & Lk 4:22. But the moment He spoke critically, they took offense and became angry - - Mk 6:3 & Lk 4:23-28. They even attempted to kill Him - Lk 4:29-30. 
3. If you experience a miracle on a regular basis, you do not look at it as a miracle any more

As a result of their contempt, people of Jesus' home town Nazerath lost access to God's will. Jesus could do no mighty work there..." - Mk 6:5 (also read Lk 4:31). Matthew says it was "because of their unbelief" (Mt 13:58) they lost access to receiving more blessings.

Mark's Gospel verse 35 notes that '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 verse offers a captivating glimpses of Jesus' prayer life.

We wonder about what He prayed for. Certainly not for His PR or for the PR of Ranjit though Jesus, at times, prayed for others (Matthew 19:13). In this instance

1. He must be taking guidance from the Father for the activities of the day
   
2. 
   

Also note the time He spent the time in prayer. Doesn't it talk about Jesus' priority?

The parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20) has implications to us in two ways: 

The soil in its first sense represents our own heart. In spite of the clarity of the Word of God, we may have been blinded as to its message. In other words, there may be many areas in our life that we are still resisting the Word of God and as a result unable to bear fruit . For example, 

1. In the area of execising self-control in terms of what we want to look at, the places that we want to go to, the words that we like to hear, the things that our tongues crave for, the thoughts that give us illicit pleasure etc. Satan can easily take advantage of such unsurrendered life and make us unproductive.
2. In other situations, we may have inclination to the Word of God but fail to perceive the fullness of its message because we are not spending enough time with the Word and it doesn't take root. And again, we end up as unfruitful.
3. In other cases, our priorities choke our growth. Jesus mentions three things that constrain fruit-bearing: the worries of this life, the attraction of wealth, and the desire for other things (Verse 19)

Secondly, as 'sowers' sharing the Word of God according to the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20), we may come across different soils. 

1. The first type of soil represents many today who have no interest in spiritual things and are manipulated by Satan to resist (2 Tim 2:26). 
2. The second group of people may respond to the Gospel positively initially but because of their background (eg. people from other faiths & belief systems) and lack of sound knowledge, do not last long.  
3. The third group, though they respond very positively and show pleasing progress initially fall away because of the external pressures  (Ranjit shared his personal testimony of how, being an International Student, difficult it was to just attend the Sunday Service and how his Spiritual growth suffered as a result)

In conclusion, consider the whole point of the parable. 

• It is about a life that produces fruit (Gal 5:22-23) that yields as much as thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times and then, 
• let's be discerning & sensitive to the needs of the ones we are ministering unto being 'shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves' (Matt 10:16)

The supposedly gemstones of Urim (light) and the Thummim (perfection)  were carried by the high priest of Israel, Aaron in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the Lord (Exodus 28:30). But when God transferred the responsibility of leading Isaralites to the Promised Land from Moses to Joshua, only part of the authority was given to him (Num 27:19-22). As a consequence, Joshua would only have the Urim but not the Thumim.

Subsequently came the judgement of God on Israel and the whole nation ended up in exile in Babylon. But when they later returned to Jerusalem in two lots, we don't see Urim (light) and the Thummim (perfection) anymore (Ezra 2:62) and Isralites were asked to wait until such time a priest could finally come in full authority. The 'light' and 'perfection' had apparently been withdrawn from man's access. 

However, the good news is  Jesus, the great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) came with 'all authority in heaven and on earth' (Matthew 28:18) replacing every other insufficient systems. The writer of Hebrews categorically declares (9:11) that Jesus 'went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation (Urim or Thumim). As Isaiah notes (53:11) Jesus has seen the 'light of life' and justified (perfected) many as He bore everyone's iniquities. The light & perfection expected of the high priest of Israel have been replaced by 'the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus' (1 Timothy 1:14)

That is the reason we are asked to put on faith and love as a breastplate (1 Thes 5:8) because in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value and the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Gal 5:6). We, as 'chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession' (1 Peter 2:9), need to fix 'our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith' because we are called you into fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9)

Can we all, therefore, join the Psalmist (89:14-18) who says, 'Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long; they celebrate your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn. Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel'.