Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Monday, June 17, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Rebellion, gone
I will cleanse them of their sins against me and forgive all their sins of rebellion. Jeremiah 33:8
We are all prone to giving up. It is so easy to be a quitter. And we have good reason to feel despair We have offended God. In our rebellion, we have broke his every law. We have treated his kindness with disregard and we have flaunted our hard hearts and sin. We think that we will change but we fail. We put our foot in it and hurt people with our words. We lack the discipline to exercise properly or to eat sensibly. We fail to do the good we know we should. We procrastinate. We are lazy. Or we are full of pride at our hard work and accomplishments but fail to realise the full potential of the good we could do for others and satisfy only ourselves. We see our neighbor in need and pass him by. We know of the pain and suffering of so many but think only of how to better our own situation and choose to forget the hardship of others. We are easily corrupted by power, we think more of everything will solve our problems so we we strive for wealth and ease.We lust, we complain, we compare ourselves with others and feel smug.We ought to compare ourselves to God and be humbled.
And like the Israelites, when we are warned by God to repent, we harden our hearts instead.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
So it is a wonder that we could somehow get out of the rut we have dove headlong into. In fact we can not. But God sees us in this pitiful state and promises to change us. First, the muck that we have smeared all over us and only succeed in spreading further is cleaned away. We are put right. We are going to be sorted out. We are going to be lifted up. We are going to be dressed a new, gone will be the ragged clothes of rebellion and coming are the clothes of righteousness. And the stains of before are gone too. We are free of the debts and the burdens of our past behaviour. We are not going to be held responsible for our insurrection. We are unfettered by the debts of our treason and adultery.
How is this done? What must I do to be saved? It is done by God. And I can do nothing to merit it! It is a gift! It is the will of God that although we deserve punishment we get forgiveness.
Jeremiah, was getting a glimpse into the future and he was seeing Jesus.
Listen to Jesus claim the power and right of forgiveness!
The Gospel of Mark Chapter 2
Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man
1 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7“What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’?10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11“Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”
How is this done? What must I do to be saved? It is done by God. And I can do nothing to merit it! It is a gift! It is the will of God that although we deserve punishment we get forgiveness.
Jeremiah, was getting a glimpse into the future and he was seeing Jesus.
Listen to Jesus claim the power and right of forgiveness!
The Gospel of Mark Chapter 2
Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man
1 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7“What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’?10 So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, 11“Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”
Jesus can forgive your sins!
http://bible.us/116/JER33.8.NLT
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
“He’s out of his mind,”
Mark 3:21-22 NLT
When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”
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“I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.”Mark 3:28-29
Does it scare you when you read about the unforgiveable sin?
It should! It's not murder, genocide, racism, paedophilia or rape that are unforgiveable. They'll be forgiven.
The unforgiveable sin is misrepresentation of the work of God. In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus' enemies claimed God's Son, Jesus, was actually controlled by Satan.
The Pharisees claimed to represent God. They claimed they knew what God was doing. And with that authority they declared that Jesus was not from God but was actually from Satan. Persisting along these lines would further blind them to the truth and harden their hearts.
Jesus was from God. The Holy Spirit of God was leading Jesus and empowering him. The best news God ever proclaimed was that Jesus, the Son of God, was the Saviour of the World who came from the Father to forgive sinners and welcome them into God’s kingdom.
The Pharisees, claiming to be speaking from a position of God’s authority, were saying God's Saviour Jesus was in fact from Satan.
Jesus says that's unforgiveable!
Interestingly, Jesus' family was also misrepresenting Jesus. They were saying he was crazy. Now we know Jesus' mother was a believer, and we know at least one of Jesus' brothers is not only a believer but becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem.
Jesus wasn't crazy. Just because he was healing people, missing meals and working hard proclaiming the Kingdom of God, was no reason to say he was "out of his mind". Still Jesus isn't really rebuking his family with the same severity that he has the Pharisees.
Jesus is saying his family is God's family! And that included a lot of people.
Do you see why what the Pharisees were saying was so much worse? Jesus was welcoming people into God's family and He alone was the only way anyone would ever get in. Without Jesus no one would ever be saved. The Pharisees were, in effect, going to damn every one in the whole world to God's wrath and judgment by claiming the only rescue God sent was from Satan.
Jesus is not from Satan!
He is not out of his mind either.
Jesus is God's much anticipated Messiah King who comes to welcome sinners into God's kingdom. Jesus calls the sinner to repent of his sin and to believe in Jesus and his way of life through the cross.
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Mark 3:20-35 NLT
One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.” Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. “I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.” He told them this because they were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.” Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
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