6/22/13

From Bill... ACCEPTING OUR MISSION




ACCEPTING OUR MISSION
The Book of Ezekiel is perhaps one of the most complete messages of God’s eternal plan and purpose. Within its pages lies a portrait of God that reflects His heart towards mankind, His elect, and those who would continue to harden their hearts towards His Divine commandments. In the 33rd Chapter we read of Ezekiel’s commission given to him by God. The Scripture says: “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel: therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.” (Ezekiel 33:7) There would be absolutely no doubt or confusion in anyone’s mind what the will of God was and what His response would be if they would not listen. Ezekiel’s work was to watch over the Lord’s house and preach to them God’s holy Word.
What a burden Ezekiel must have felt, especially since God held him accountable for making sure the truth was proclaimed. The Lord said: When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die! and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, …his blood I will require at your hand.” (Ezekiel 33:8) The only release from full accountability was when souls were warned and they refused to turn. Only then would Ezekiel be delivered from guilt. I don’t know about you, but these passages provide some motivation for my faithfulness in sowing the seed for Christ today. We have been enlisted as God’s Ambassador’s to reconcile men back to Him.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he states: Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20) The Apostle Peter encouraged the Brethren of his day by writing them that they should be “…mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets.” (2 Peter 3:2 -18). Why? Because in forgetting our mission we selfishly dethrone God and neglect our calling. Rather, let’s accept our mission as did Ezekiel!    

From Gary... The limits are...


Last night we went to see Star Trek, into darkness .  I enjoyed it, but Linda said that they just cobbed together things from previous movies.  She was right, of course, but I still enjoyed the flick.  My only complaint was that the sound was WAY TO LOUD!!!  And I suffer from mild hearing loss in one ear!!!!  Still, it was a pleasant part of a night out, so yesterday was a GOOD DAY!!!  What struck me about the movie was that Kirk was demoted for breaking the rules.  Eventually, he was reinstated (to a new Enterprise [built a new one and did not change the number??]) There was also a huge new starship named something like "Revenge", with a warp-drive engine more powerful than that of the Enterprise.  I wonder if it was trans-warp, but I don't think they told us in the movie. Anyway, I can only imagine how fast it could go???  Which made me also wonder- are there any rules to the speed of warp drive. Or, to put it another way- How fast can you go, before you break the rules???  Its a hop, skip and a jump to the question: How far can WE GO BEFORE WE BREAK THE RULES- AND - WHAT THEN???  Consider Paul the apostle for example.  In his letter to the Galatians, he says...

Galatians, Chapter 1 
(World English Bible, as always)

  1 Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead),  2 and all the brothers who are with me, to the assemblies of Galatia:  3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,  4 who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—  5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 

  6  I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “good news”;  7 and there isn’t another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Good News of Christ.  8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed.  9 As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man preaches to you any “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed.  10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.  11 But I make known to you, brothers, concerning the Good News which was preached by me, that it is not according to man.  12 For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.  13 For you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God, and ravaged it.  14 I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.  15 But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace,  16 to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I didn’t immediately confer with flesh and blood,  17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia. Then I returned to Damascus.  18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days.  19 But of the other apostles I saw no one, except James, the Lord’s brother.  20 Now about the things which I write to you, behold, before God, I’m not lying.  21 Then I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.  22 I was still unknown by face to the assemblies of Judea which were in Christ,  23 but they only heard: “He who once persecuted us now preaches the faith that he once tried to destroy.”  24 And they glorified God in me. 


Paul kept the rules!!!  No, he went BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE RULES!!!!  But, God chose him anyway and those of us who were born outside Judaism are blessed by his work.  What are the rules?  God's rules, not ours!!!   Think about that the next time you are on Warp drive!!!

From Jim McGuiggan... When Hope and History Rhyme


When Hope and History Rhyme

Seamus Heaney adapted a play of Sophocles ("Philoctetes"). The central character is Philoctetes, a Greek hero who possessed a charmed bow and arrows given to him by Hercules. On the island of Lemnos he was bitten by a serpent and his foot began to rot. The intolerable pain made him scream all the time and the stench from the foot became unbearable to those around him so they deserted him. He endured ten years of loneliness, pain and the anguish of betrayal. Days became weeks, weeks became months and months became years and hope of rescue faded as his bitterness grew. But an oracle told the Greeks they couldn't take Troy without the bow of Philoctetes so they went back to ask him if he would go with them. His years of disappointed hope were over and when he emptied himself of the bitterness that had built up inside him the cripple marched off with them to glory. Heaney puts these words in the mouths of the chorus at the end of the play: "History forbids us to hope this side of the grave. But once in a lifetime, the longed-for tide of justice can arise and hope and history rhyme." With Northern Ireland as its setting, with its long history of feuds and killings, dashed hopes, treachery and unfulfilled promises, Heaney's call is well contextualised. Don't cease to hope for one day hope and history will rhyme and crippled truths will walk!
Much of history is hum-drum. Some of it is meaningless! Much of it forbids us to hope this side of the grave. Some biblical history shares these features. Not every event recorded in the Bible is filled with theological significance but here and there, an event or a cluster of events seizes our attention and God has reached from behind the curtain of his hiddenness and in these events we catch a glimpse of him. And once we've seen him we can't "unsee" him.
The Exodus shoves the curtain aside and generations live in the strength of that vision. The Incarnation catches us by the breath and the Cross drives us to joyful amazement. Paul, on whom the shadow of the cross fell, was driven, careering off across half a world to proclaim triumph and hope in the name of the God who was hung on a public gallows. And when friendly hands would try to slow Paul down, telling him to take it easy, he would shrug them off and say: "I can't be different, the love of Christ compels me and the world needs hope." (2 Corinthians 5:14) And it doesn't matter that we moderns hang Christ again and again, thinking we've got rid of him, he's been there and done that! Christ can't be harmed by crucifixion. In fact there's every reason to believe that he is never as powerful as he is when he's weak so to crucify him over again is in some ways to turn him loose on society. Even to see him crucified (when we trouble the church, which is his body) is to put ourselves in danger of being drawn to him because he said when he was "lifted up from the earth" he would draw all men unto him. That cross...that strange cross.

©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... The Death And Burial Of Jesus (Mk.15:33-47)


                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

                The Death And Burial Of Jesus (15:33-47)

INTRODUCTION

1. Following a night and morning of torture and ridicule, Jesus was
   crucified - Mk 14:53-15:25

2. For six hours as He hung on the cross, the mockery continued - Mk 15:26-32

[We come in our study of the gospel of Mark to the time of our Lord’s
death and burial.  Let us use this time to reflect upon the details of
those events, beginning with...]

I. THE DEATH OF JESUS

   A. THE DARKNESS...
      1. Lasting from the sixth hour (noon) to the ninth hour (3pm) - Mk 15:33
      2. The significance?  Several possibilities:
         a. A sign of mourning
         b. A sign of judgment
         c. A veil covering the shame of the crucifixion

   B. THE CRY OF AGONY...
      1. "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" - Mk 15:34
      2. A proverbial expression of distress from Ps 22:1 - ZIBBC
      3. It is possible that citing the first verse of the psalm refers
         to the entire psalm - ibid.
      4. Psalms 22 begins with bitter despair, but ends with supreme
         confidence - ibid.
      5. This interpretation does not deny the real anguish that Jesus
         experiences but understands his cry as an expression of trust
         that God will intervene and ultimately vindicate him - ibid.

   C. THE MOCKERY AND SYMPATHY...
      1. The mockery seen earlier continues - Mk 15:35-36; cf. Mk 15:29-32
      2. Yet one offers a gesture of sympathy (sponge full of sour wine)
         - Mk 15:36

   D. THE DEATH...
      1. Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last - Mk 15:37
      2. "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" - Lk 23:46
      3. He "yielded up" His spirit (suggesting a voluntary death) - Mt 27:50
      4. Some suggest He died from a ruptured heart, others that it was
         dehydration and loss of blood

   E. THE CURTAIN OF THE SANCTUARY...
      1. The veil of the temple torn in two from top to bottom - Mk 15:38
      2. Likely the veil separating the Holy Place and the Most Holy
         Place
      3. Perhaps indicating the end of the Old Covenant, and beginning
         of the New - He 10:19-20

   F. THE CENTURION...
      1. Observing the manner in which Jesus died, confessed faith in
         Jesus
      2. "Truly this Man was the Son of God!" - Mk 15:39

   G. THE MINISTERING WOMEN...
      1. Looking from afar - Mk 15:40-41
         a. Mary Magdalene
         b. Mary (wife of Clopas) the mother of James the Less and Joses
            - Jn 19:25
         c. Salome - the mother of the sons of Zebedee (James and John)
            - cf. Mt 27:56
         d. Many other women - including Mary the mother of Jesus - Jn 19:25
      2. Women who had followed Jesus
         a. Ministering to Him in Galilee - cf. Lk 8:1-3
         b. Coming with Him to Jerusalem

[Jesus is now dead, His body mangled as it hung on the cross.  Mark now
records for us in his gospel...]

II. THE BURIAL OF JESUS

   A. THE TIME OF THE BURIAL...
      1. "when evening had come", likely late afternoon - Mk 15:42
      2. "the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath",
         i.e., Friday - Mk 15:42

   B. THE REQUEST FOR THE BODY...
      1. Made by Joseph - Mk 15:43
         a. From Arimathea (the city of Ramah, city of Samuel)
         b. Prominent member of the council (Sanhedrin)
         c. Who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God
         d. A rich man - Mt 27:57
         e. A disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews - 
            Mt 27:57; Jn 19:38
      2. Together with Nicodemus - Jn 19:38
         a. A ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night - Jn 3:1-2
         b. Also a member of the council - Jn 7:50
         b. Who brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred
            pounds

   C. THE CONFIRMATION AND RELEASE...
      1. To convince Pilate that Jesus was dead - Mk 15:44
      2. Confirmed by the centurion, the body was released - Mk 15:45

   D. THE BURIAL...
      1. The body was wrapped in fine linen - Mk 15:46
      2. Laid in a new tomb hewn out of rock, located in a garden - Jn 19:40-42
      3. A stone rolled against the door of the tomb

   E. THE WOMEN...
      1. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joses observed where He was laid
         - Mk 15:47
      2. They left, prepared spices and fragrant oils, then rested on
         the Sabbath - Lk 23:55-56

CONCLUSION

1. Thus Jesus, the Son of God, gave His life for our sins and was buried;
   but the story is not over, in our next lesson we will read of His
   amazing resurrection from the dead...

2. Until then, remember what we should learn from this death of
   Jesus... - cf. He 12:2-3; 1Pe 2:21-25
Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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