From Gary... Its a wonderful world

Its a wonderful world

Wednesday, and a beautiful one it is!!!  The sun is shining, the sky is a wonderful shade of blue and life is good!!!  When I did my usual morning perusal of facebook, I saw this video that brother Ed Healy had posted from you-tube and it brought a little happiness into my life.  Before you look outside to see what the world looks like where you are, read the following.... 

Genesis, Chapter 1

 9  God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.  11 God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so.  12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.  13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day. 

  14  God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;  15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so.  16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.  17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth,  18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.  19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 

  20  God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky.” 21 God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.  22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”  23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 

  24  God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.  25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. 

  26  God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.  28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  29 God said, “Behold,^*n2 I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.  30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so. 

  31  God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. 

If God said it, then that is what it is.  In spite of all the not-so-good things around us, the world is still a wonderful place.  Today, just think about that a bit- and thank God above for what he has given us!!!

From Jim McGuiggan... Letters Of Recommendation

Letters Of Recommendation

It's in this context (see earlier lesson Aroma) that Paul goes into speaking about letters that establish authority (2 Corinthians 3:1). It appears his Jewish (see 11:22) opponents, in one way or another, have raised the question about Paul's authority. Paul had experienced tensions with Jerusalem and Antioch (even with his friend Barnabas) and had no home church to approve of his missionary work so where does he get his commission and authority? He will insist that his letters of recommendation are written on his own heart (following the better-attested reading in 3:2) and on the heart of those who were led to Christ by him. These weren't "external" letters.

Paul's opponents appeared to brag on their Jewish connection (11:21-22) and consequently would be pleased to be identified with Moses. Moses might be well established as God's leader right now but it wasn't always that way. His divine commission was called in question every time he turned around. (This was true of many of the prophets and leaders God called.)

If Moses was doubted it's no big surprise that Paul would be. Moses now fully accepted as God's sent one was doubted even when he had his letters of recommendation straight from God's hand. Moses' letters were written on stone and were external to the people. When Moses appeared with those letters the people had something else written on their hearts--rebellion instead of acceptance. The result was death. The reason death was the result was precisely because the letters (the covenant word) brought by Moses remained external to the people who exchanged their Glory for a grass-eating bull (Psalm 106:20). It was also the case that their apostasy involved the rejecting of God's messenger (Exodus 32:1,23). There are plain implications here for those who reject Paul as God's sent man.

The trouble with letters of recommendation is that they're only worth as much as the people who wrote them, the people who carry them and those who can appreciate them when they're shown to them. If the carrier doesn't have in him what the letter has on the paper, the letter is his judge, and speaks death to him. Letters didn't make the minister worthy--he showed the letters to be true. But it works that way too for those who receive them! If they don't have the heart to appreciate the letters they receive, it's death to them as well. If they think them true and reject the messenger they lose. If they think them untrue when they're true they lose again.

Moses came down the mountain with his own "letters of recommendation" but those letters (which Paul's opponents may have laid special claim to) on tables of stone were not on the hearts of the people to whom he brought them. And the result? When Moses' external letters met evil hearts the result was death (see Exodus 32). When Paul came in the Spirit of the Lord the result was life because the Spirit of Christ wrote in no other place than on human hearts. The Corinthians should have been glad that all that was true. Paul's letter of recommendation is the gospel he brought and the Corinthians had rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and received that gospel Paul carried on his heart. This spoke well of the Corinthians and it should have spoken well for Paul.

It's always true that "the letter" works death. When Paul proclaims and lives out the gospel, in that very process, life and death are ministered (2:16). The good news is not simply an invitation for people to "let Jesus into your heart". It is a proclamation that Jesus is Lord--that's the gospel.

The "letter" is the will of God when it's external to the heart of the person carrying or receiving it. It's something you can talk about as being "out there". It's something you can "possess" without it possessing you. It may the true, of course, but if truth isn't internalised it stands in judgment rather than in approval; it brings (points out) death rather than life. If Paul's "letter," which was written on his own heart, had remained external to the Corinthians it would have meant death to them. Since by the Spirit of God it had been internalised it stood as Paul's letter of recommendation and proof of their own incorporation into Christ with consequent life. All talk about external signs of authority is ill conceived.

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... Four Preparatory Acts (14:1-16)

                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

                    Four Preparatory Acts (14:1-16)

INTRODUCTION

1. Following the Olivet Discourse in Mark 13, Mark’s gospel turns its
   attention to events that preceded the betrayal and arrest of Jesus...

2. In the first sixteen verses of Mark 14, we are told of "Four
   Preparatory Acts"...
   a. Two done in opposition to Jesus
   b. Two done in service to Jesus

[Once these four preparatory acts are completed, the stage is set for
the last night and day of Jesus’ earthly life.  In Mk 14:1-2, we are
told how...]

I. LEADERS PREPARE TO KILL JESUS

   A. THE PLOT THICKENS...
      1. This is not the beginning of their machinations - cf. Mk 3:6;
         11:18; 12:12
      2. But now it is two days before the feast of Passover - Mk 14:1
         a. "It was now two days before..." - ESV
         b. "Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days
            away..." - NASB
      3. The plot involves the chief priests, scribes, elders, along
         with Caiaphas the high priest - cf. Mt 26:3-4
      4. Their intention is to take Jesus by trickery (stealth)

   B. THEIR INTENTION TO DELAY...
      1. They did not want to do anything during the feast, lest there
         be an uproar - Mk 14:2
      2. For they feared the people - cf. Mk 11:32; Lk 22:2
      3. Despite their intent, the events are not entirely in their hand
         - cf. Ac 2:23

[Indeed, their plot will be carried out much quicker than intended.  But
before we see why, we read in Mk 14:3-9 that...]

II. MARY PREPARES FOR JESUS’ BURIAL

   A. AT THE HOUSE IN BETHANY...
      1. The home of Simon the leper (perhaps father of Mary, Martha,
         Lazarus) - Mk 14:3
      2. John identifies the woman as Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus
         - cf. Jn 11:2; 12:2-3
      3. Not to be confused with the woman that anointed Jesus earlier
         - cf. Lk 7:36-50

   B. MARY ANOINTS JESUS...
      1. Using an alabaster jar of expensive perfume - Mk 14:3
      2. Breaking the jar, pouring the perfume over His head, anointing
         and wiping His feet with her hair - cf. Jn 12:3

   C. THE DISCIPLES’ INDIGNATION...
      1. They were angry at what they considered wasteful - Mk 14:4
      2. For the perfume was worth 300 denarii (300 days wages), and
         they thought it better to have sold it and given the money to
         the poor - Mk 14:5
      3. Judas Iscariot especially was angry, not that he cared for the
         poor, but because he often pilfered from the money box - Jn 12:4-6
      4. Thus the disciples criticized Mary sharply - Mk 14:5

   D. JESUS’ PRAISE OF MARY...
      1. Leave her alone, she has done a good work - Mk 14:6
      2. There would always be the poor to help, but not so with Jesus
         - Mk 14:7
      3. She has done what she could, even anointing Jesus for His
         burial (once again, predicting His death) - Mk 14:8
      4. The highest praise?  Mary’s actions will be memorialized - Mk 14:9

[Jesus’ prediction of Mary’s praise was fulfilled by the inclusion of
this story in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John.  Sadly, Mary’s
preparatory act is soon followed by a much different one as...]

III. JUDAS PREPARES TO BETRAY JESUS

   A. JUDAS GOES TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS...
      1. With the intent to betray Jesus to them - Mk 14:10
      2. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles - cf. Mk 10:4
      3. Whom Jesus knew early on would betray Him - cf. Jn 6:70-71
      4. Luke adds that Satan had entered Judas - cf. Lk 22:3

   B. THE AGREEMENT IS MADE...
      1. The chief priests are glad, and promise to pay Judas - Mk 14:11
      2. Matthew records the price agreed for betrayal:  30 pieces of
         silver - cf. Mt 26:15
      3. Judas had previously manifested his greed for money - cf. Jn 12:4-6
      4. Judas then sought for a convenient time to betray Jesus - Mk 14:11

[What a contrast between the preparatory acts of Mary and Judas!
Finally, let’s briefly consider the preparatory act of the disciples...]

IV. DISCIPLES PREPARE TO KEEP THE PASSOVER

   A. JESUS INSTRUCTS HIS DISCIPLES...
      1. The first day of Unleavened Bread arrived - Mk 14:12
         a. When the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed
         b. The day was likely Thursday, Nisan 14 - ESV Study Bible
         c. His disciples asked where He wanted them to prepare to eat
            the Passover
      2. Jesus gives explicit instructions - Mk 14:13-15
         a. For two of His disciples (Peter and John) - cf. Lk 22:8
         b. With either miraculous foresight, or having made prior
            arrangements
         c. To meet a man who will provide a large upper room, furnished
            and prepared

   B. THE TWO DISCIPLES DO AS INSTRUCTED...
      1. They go into the city (Jerusalem) - Mk 14:16
      2. They find it just as Jesus predicted
      3. They prepare the Passover

CONCLUSION

1. With these preparatory acts completed, the stage is now set...
   a. For Jesus to keep the Passover
   b. For Judas to betray Him to the chief priests
   c. For the trial, crucifixion, and death that will lead to His burial

2. Perhaps we should ask, "What sort of preparatory acts are we doing
   today...?"
   a. Are they things that would prove to betray our Lord?
   b. Or things which would show our love and devotion to Him?

3. Every day we do things, small though they may be...
   a. That might be preparatory to greater things
   b. That might prepare us to do good or to do evil

How much better to follow the example of Mary and the disciples, rather
than the example of Judas and the chief priests...!

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011