By Ramesh C.Reddy
Pittsburgh Standard

Monday, Feb 16, 2009

SCRIPTURE:
“They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known.” (Mark 6:12-14, NIV)

Observation:
I asked myself what King Herod heard?

1. King Herod heard that the disciples went out and preached that people should repent.

2. King Herod heard that the disciples drove out many demons.

3. King Herod heard that the disciples anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

4. King Herod heard about Jesus being responsible for what the disciples were doing and Jesus’ name became well known.

 Interpretation:
I asked myself why was it significant that King Herod heard about this?
I found it very significant that King Herod heard about Jesus and His miracles because though King Herod was bad, Good News traveled to him too. In other words, Herod was getting the message of what Jesus was doing and hearing all about Jesus and those that belong to Jesus whose work was showing the miraculous powers of Jesus to the citizens of Galilee. Jesus had become a household name in the palace of King Herod too.

I asked myself why Jesus’ name became well known?
Jesus had done many miracles that the news would have traveled everywhere even to Herod’s palace. Jesus also taught with authority the teachings from God and showed a lot of wisdom. Because of Jesus’ encounter with people and the difference Jesus made, Jesus became a celebrity of the time. If Jesus walked, there were people who talked. If Jesus talked, there were people who walked. It is because people heard good things about Jesus and wanted to follow Jesus.

Everything the disciples were doing too, pointed to Jesus and not to their selves. Jesus became the Bright Morning Star to be seen by everyone who wanted to encounter Jesus.

 Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. People heard about Jesus because Jesus was making a difference and His message was counter-cultural to what they were used to!

When they expected Jesus to do one thing, He usually did something else to their amazement but it was always better than what they expected or thought.

When people looked to the disciples for preaching and healing, the people were still being pointed to the Source.  Whatever was happening people were hearing about Jesus even those considered to be bad, bad! Herod was one of them as will become evident later.

As a follower of Christ, as I live my life, people will hear about me. When they hear about me, they can either be pointed to Christ or away from Christ. You see many times what people hear about us will determine their actions. If they hear good things about me, they could be curious to know why I am like that and what makes me like that. Some would be curious enough to come and find out. There are others who would want to even check out the things I am part of because they think maybe his actions will let me see what makes him what he is. Eventually, they will come to hear about Christ.

 I have had that opportunity by the grace of God There were those who would say to my friends near me, “I would give anything to hear Ramesh swear, curse, or use profanity once in his life or I would give anything to see Ramesh drink alcohol or beer once in his life.”

 You see by the grace of the Lord, I have never sworn, cursed, or used profanity and it was shocking to them nor had I ever had alcohol or beer! They could not believe that I could be living in the 21^st century and never have done that. You know what, they did not hear what they expected but they did hear about Jesus. This gave me an opportunity to share Jesus with them through different means.

Jesus wants me to live counter-culturally to the world and I know His Holy Spirit working in me will help me as I seek Him diligently and am willing to walk in the Spirit so I do not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh wants things that are contrary to the Word of God!

When there is something different about our lives people hear about it!

The flip side of it is that if people hear negative things about me, it will spread too. But it will spread like a wildfire and hurt my witness. They will think if that’s what a Christian is supposed to be, if that’s what a Christian is then I do not want to have any part of Christianity or Jesus. Sadly, there were days in my life when my actions were not in line with the Holy Spirit but selfish and self-oriented.

I heard sentences that was like a dagger to my heart and hurtful because I felt I let Jesus down. I heard someone say to me, “And you are supposed to be a Christian, how could you act that way?”

"What happened to the old Ramesh we knew?" (they were basically saying what happened to the Ramesh who never had a hate bone in his body for that was written about me, etc)

I came to realize no matter how many good things I have done in the Name of the Lord, people hearing one bad thing can put a dent in all the good things that have been done. So, it is that much more important that I always walk in the Spirit. I know it will not be easy but Jesus will help me.

Sadly, it is easier for people to hear or remember the bad things they experience from others because that is Satan’s specialization. Satan loves to accuse and condemn and will bring our negative faults into the open to make people see and say, “You do not want any part of Jesus, look he/she is supposed to be following Jesus but their life is so hypocritical” or Satan could make us say to ourselves, “I am supposed to be a Christian, but look at me, I am so hypocritical, and do not deserve to be called a Christian, I am worthless, etc”

You know rather than dwelling in the mistakes I have made, Jesus gave me a wonderful promise to deliver me from condemnation.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1, NIV)

You know I came to realize if people have a negative opinion about me because of my actions, I cannot change the fact of what already happened. What I can do is repent and continue to live a positive life for Jesus and let the Holy Spirit work in me and through me. You can do that too!

The Lord will make amazing things happen no matter where we have been or what we have done when we humbly turn to Him and ask Him to become the Lord of our lives again and guide us! He wants us to submit to His Lordship.

This past weekend, I had the honor of listening to Dr. George Murray, an missionary and current chancellor of Columbia International University. One of the things he asked us was a complete surrender to the Lordship of Christ.
That means we basically sign a empty paper with our name and allow Jesus to fill up the paper of what He wants for our lives. We are signing our lives over to the Lord. We do not control our lives but allow Him to control our lives. We won't always know what the Lord Jesus will write in a blank contract we sign but we can know it will always be good even when we feel it is not good.

"I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, they are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope!" (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

It starts with surrender so when people hear about us, they will hear about Jesus because it is reflected in our lives and the pledge we make and sign in front of a witness:

"The pledge says, 'Lord Jesus, ANYTHING, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, I am ready!'

Signed ____________,  Date _________ "

"On the inside it says, MY DECISION

By signing the front of this card, today I decide that Jesus Christ is Lord and Master of my life. I no longer want to merely include God in my plans. I want God to include me in His plan, whatever that means, whatever the cost.

ANYTHING, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE

Witnessed by _______________"

I want people to hear that I will do anything, anytime, and anywhere for my Lord Jesus Christ and He is the Lord and Savior of my life. I cannot do it on my own strength but the strength He gives me. I am comforted by the promises in Psalm 121 which is a favorite song of mine and Romans 8 which is a favorite chapter of mine.

I ask you now dear friend, what have people heard about Jesus through you?
Dear friend, when your name is mentioned, is your name mentioned in a positive light or in negative darkness. If you are living on earth, your name will be mentioned. People will hear about you and there is no doubt about that. The question is will they hear good things about you that point them to Christ or hear bad things about you that keep them away from Christ because of you. The way we live our lives does make an impact for the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Darkness. Our aim should always be the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.

You and I have been placed in strategic locations to point people to Jesus when they see us and see Christ in us. This is only possible when we live our lives walking in the Spirit. It will not be easy but is attainable friend. I know it is because the Lord has been working in my life and have seen it happen.

As you live your life, know that people hear about you. As long as people hear biblical things about you which show them you are following the Way, the Truth, and the Life and your life reflects Jesus Christ, Light of the World, they will be pointed in that direction too. The important thing is they will hear about Jesus. You have provided them an opportunity to know about Jesus and have done your part because the good things they hear about you.

Jesus said, I am the Light of the World! If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness but living light will flood your path. (John 8:12, TLB)

Have you heard about the darkness that came into the world and how the Light shined in that darkness to give us hope and Eternal life?

Thousands of years ago, darkness came into this world through the sin of one man, Adam. When Adam & Eve decided to eat the forbidden fruit in the garden and then heard the presence of God in the garden, they now decided to hide in shame. Before the act of eating the forbidden fruit, whenever they heard God in the garden, the did not hide but were in fellowship and in a relationship with God.

Not anymore, when the presence of God was heard, Adam and Eve hid because of their nakedness and shame. Darkness had polluted their minds. The Living Light that once flooded their path, they could not face that Light anymore.

Of course, God in His goodness and love for humanity did not completely abandon Adam & Eve even though they had to face consequences of their actions including the debt that everyone now will pay, the debt of death. But God in His love did not want humanity to suffer spiritual death for eternity even though everyone now dies a physical death so God took action.

God would foreshadow what would be done in the future to pay the penalty for our sins by sacrificing an animal to cover the nakedness of Adam & Eve. It is the first sacrifice we see God make to cover their shame of nakedness due to their sin.

Now this same God who walked in the garden to have a relationship with Adam & Eve, now came back into this world during the time of King Herod.

Friend, Jesus came into this world as God-incarnate to have a relationship with people and set them free. Now, King Herod heard about this. The sacrifice this time would not be an animal but the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus' life was sacrificed on the altar of the cross, because He who had no sin died in our place to cover us in His precious cleansing blood. Now, when we turn to Him, our own lives will be transformed because we will be forgiven of all our sin and darkness will be covered with the Light of Christ. Jesus dying was not the end but Jesus came back to life to save and gives us now power to go proclaim the Great Commission.

Our life can be like the life of a heart-transplant patient. There was a patient who was dying and would have died if it were not for a donor who gave their heart to that patient. Now the patient has a heart transplant. Just because the patient has a heart transplant does not mean, that patient can go on living like they used to. No way! There are a lot of changes that have to occur. First of all, the patient would need to take lots of medication everyday to keep the heart running. If the patient misses his medication and it becomes infrequent, the heart could be rejected in the flesh and the person could die.

In the same way, we are all patients that have been dying and we needed a heart transplant badly. The Good News is that a Donor became available to give us a heart-transplant because He died for our sin to give us His cleansing blood to pump new life into our heart. When we accepted what Jesus did for us, He took our heart of stone and gave us a heart of love. He filled the darkness of our dying heart with His Light giving us a spiritual heart transplant. Now, we have new life in Christ. However, there are changes that have to be made in our lives. We cannot live our lives like we used to because of the spiritual heart transplant. Instead, we need to take the medication given to us by the Author of Life everyday. Just taking the medication is not enough but we have to let it digest in our heart and let it work in us. If we miss the medication frequently which comes in different forms, we hurt our spiritual growth in the Lord. There are three forms of medication we need to take, three of them daily: Prayer, God’s Word, and the church  (we should not forsake the body of believers, the community of Jesus Christ).

As we let prayer and God’s Word permeate our lives daily we will be in Bible Academy. Being involved in church will become part of us because we are obedient to Scripture.

The more we pray, take in God’s Word and let it work in our hearts, and be part of a community of believers in Christ, we will be on the side of Jesus and His Ways, Truth, and Life will permeate our own lives for the glory and honor of the Lord.

I do not want you to even think that our Salvation is based on the works we do because then Christ's sacrifice on the cross and the transplant He gave us would not be free anymore. But God in His goodness not because of any good we have done sent Christ to die for us and atone for our sins.

"But God demonstrated His own love for us, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5)

"He who did not spare His own Son, how much more will He give us" (Romans 8)

Remember the Garden of Eden story! God clothed Adam and Eve with the skin of a sacrificed animal to cover them in their nakedness and shame while they were still sinners. God is the One that showed His grace to them and foreshadowed the grace He shows us.

Jesus became our free gift of grace.  We cannot earn it but should receive it without any stipulations or reservations. '

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and not of any works you do lest anyone boast!" (Ephesians 2:8)

Friend, when we realize that there is nothing you and I can do to attain the grace of the Lord but it is freely given to us and we accept it, we will become part of the Kingdom of God.

Acceptance of the free gift of grace Christ the Lord is offering you, is not doing works to attain Salvation. It is receiving your free gift.  It becomes saving grace in your life. But that is not the end of it.

Any gift you receive, usually the gift will come with instructions to use it. Well, in the same way thanks be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that we have instructions on using the grace given us in our lives in the pages of the Bible, the Holy Word of God. Now as we claim the promises and apply the truths in our lives, we will essentially be living by grace. So grace does not end with Salvation alone but that same grace continues in our lives all because of what JESUS CHRIST did for you and me.

Then people will hear about Jesus and His work in our lives. This is exciting to know friend! I know it is for me! Friend, Jesus is the HOPE OF THE NATIONS.

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:8-9, NIV)

 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV)

The Word of the Lord will give us a cheerful heart as we hold on to Him!

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22, NIV)

I want to share with you a poem I wrote in the past about the power of God's Word. It is called Bible Academy. My mom helped me with some of the words.

BIBLE ACADEMY
By Ramesh C. Reddy

Bible is poetry class for me.
Where King David's inspirational,
potent Psalms soothe my heart
like gentle waves cool a hot, dry beach.

Bible is history class for me.
Where love built bridges on stormy seas,
Where faith split oceans to make land
Where prayer brought flying white doves.

Bible is music class for me.
Where Christ's Sermon on the Mount
captivates my 19 year old heart
like a nightingale's beautiful song.

Bible is Arithmetic class for me.
Where 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread
multiply big as a huge mountain,
to feed many thousands of people.

Bible is medical class for me.
Where I learn about dreaded diseases
whose nature is too stubborn like a mule,
vanishing into thin air by Christ's gentle touch.

Bible is gym class for me.
Where my spirit bounces like a basketball,
rises to the round hoop
and comes through to win for Jesus Christ.

Bible is law class for me.
Where I learn the Ten Commandments
engraved on white marble tablets,
by the hand of God.

Bible Academy is a beautiful place
which doesn't exist on earthly soil
but only in the minds of mankind (women)

Its foundation is FAITH,
Its four walls are LOVE,
Its flashing roof is HOPE.

AMEN!

May you come to hear the Word of the Lord and may others hear everywhere Almighty Redeemer delivers!

“Hear Everywhere Almighty Redeemer Delivers”(H.E.A.R.D)/”What have people heard about Jesus through you?”

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for being my Lord and Personal Savior. Thank you for dying for my sin and coming back to life to save me. I am so sorry for my sin and ask you to please forgive me and help me. Thank you Jesus and also Jesus, thank you so much for the impact you made that even King Herod and his palace heard about you and those serving you. Help us please Oh Lord to serve you and when people hear about us, help them to hear about you because our lifestyle reflects your Light in us. Thank you for the spiritual heart-transplant you have given us to give us new life. Help us to take the medications you provide. Thank you Lord as we take in the medication you give us, you will work in our life through your Holy Spirit so we can keep ourselves from the things the flesh wants us to do. We need you always. Help us Jesus and thank you for teaching us through your Word. Thank you for delivering us from Satan’s condemnation. When we fall and mess up because we do not pray, when we do not digest your Word for application, and be in the fellowship of believers, forgive us and bring us back to your path. Thank you Jesus, you will. Thank you for your free gift of grace that saves us and helps us live our lives in grace as we yield to you always/ Thank you that you have heard our prayers and answered us! In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!

If you would like to invite Jesus Christ into your heart and make Him a daily part of your life, you can this very moment. You will never be alone. You can claim God's promises for you in the Bible and see them come true, before your eyes, in His wonderful timing. You don't have to wait for a special time to come to the Lord. You can come right now as you pray this prayer, meaning it in your heart and finding your new identity in Christ Jesus.

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, I am a sinner Lord. I am so sorry for my sins. I confess my sins to you. I confess the wrong things I have done and the times I messed up my own life. I need you Lord right now and in the years to come. I have gone my own way and have not found what only you can give me. You alone have the words of Eternal Life. You alone love me unconditionally for who I am. I thank you Jesus. Thank you for going to the cross for me, for dying for my sins, shedding your precious blood for me, so I can me made whole. I am covered by your blood Lord! I come as I am and  accept you Jesus into my heart. Please come into my heart Jesus. Please make my heart your home. Please live in me Jesus. Thanks Jesus for coming into my heart and living in me. Thank you for forgiving me of all my sins. Thank you for giving me a new identity in you. I acknowledge you as my Lord and Personal Savior as I believe in my heart that you died and came back to life to save me now and forever. I give myself to you and ask you to be in control of my life. Thank you Jesus through the  days, we can do things together. Thanks for being my Lord and Personal Savior. Thank you Jesus you have heard my prayer and answered me. Thanks Jesus for changing me and helping me through life's storms and winds. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!