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SCRIPTURE:
"They discussed this with
one another and said, "It is because we have no bread.
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them:
"Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or
understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see,
and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five
loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick
up?" "Twelve," they replied. "And when I broke the seven loaves for the
four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They
answered, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
(Mark 8:16-21, NIV)
OBSERVATION:
I had asked myself what was Jesus' reaction to the
disciples discussion?
Aware of their
discussion, Jesus asked them:
1. "Why are you talking about having no
bread?
2. "Do you still not see or
understand?"
3. "Are your hearts hardened?"
4. "Do you have eyes but fail to see,
and ears but fail to hear?"
5. "And don't you remember?"
6. "When I broke the five loaves for
the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
7. "And when I broke the seven loaves for
the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
INTERPRETATION:
I decided to look at question 5 today and asked
myself, why did Jesus ask,
"And don't you remember?"
It is because the disciples were discussing about having no bread. Jesus
wanted to remind them and make them REMEMBER that it is not about the
bread at all but who is with them that can take care of their problem.
That is why Jesus brings to their attention the feeding of the 5000 &
feeding of the 4000. That is why Jesus makes them reveal how many
basketfuls were left over. The issue at hand that Jesus wanted the
disciples to beware of is wrong teaching as they REMEMBER who is with them and what He did for
them and can still do.
IMPLICATIONS:
I saw important implications
for my own life. Just as Jesus wanted the disciples to REMEMBER
what Jesus did for them two different times when they lacked enough
bread, Jesus wants me to REMEMBER what Jesus has already done for me in
my life and can continue to do in my life. I should not look to the
negative but to look to the positive. Jesus is with me and He claims to
be the Bread of Life even now. I have the Bread of Life with me
and need to REMEMBER if I have the Bread of Life, He will take care of
the rest.
The key however is not to be
so preoccupied with what I don't have but who I do have. I have Jesus
with me and just as Jesus reminded the disciples of what He did for
them, Jesus reminds me of what He did for me and can still do for me. In
all this it is to make a point that there are more things important than
what we think are important. Jesus warned the disciples about the
'yeast of the Pharisees and Herod' and that
is what Jesus wanted them to be careful about and not worry about
forgetting to bring bread.
HOW GOSPEL GIVES TESTIMONY
REGARDING R.E.M.E.M.B.E.R:
I learned the best defense to combat a COMPLAINING ATTITUDE is to
REMEMBER things to be THANKFUL to JESUS for. I started REMEMBERING
every morning, when I wake up, at least 15 different things to be
THANKFUL to JESUS for from the previous day and writing them down. Each
day, I look for at least 15 new things to be THANKFUL to JESUS for, that
happened the previous day.
What that does is put an
ATTITUDE OF THANKFULNESS and a REMINDER that JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE
SEASON. It is to REMEMBER, all that I have and will have is all because
of Jesus Christ. It also increases my faith to see all the things Jesus
has done in my life and continues to do. Praise the Lord!
Jesus wanted the disciples to
REMEMBER specifically what happened and He wants me to do the same. It
is not enough to be general but I need to be specific when I REMEMBER
things and bring them before the Lord. For a simple example, instead of
saying, "Lord, I thank you for my food"; I say, "Lord, I thank you for
giving me the wonderful and tasty Cookies & Cream Ice Cream".
I can REMEMBER all Jesus did
for me because of His GRACE. The Gospel is all about REMEMBERING GOD'S
INFINITE GRACE. It is because of God's Grace that I move and have my
being because JESUS PAID THE PRICE with His BLOOD for a RANSOM that I
could not pay to be rescued. Thank you Jesus! I Praise you Lord for all
that you do!
When I focus on THANKFUL
ATTITUDE, it will REPLACE a COMPLAINING ATTITUDE.
I ask you now dear friend,
what do you remember in life?
Dear friend, we have a tendency to remember the things that did not go
well for us instead of what went well for us. In other words,
COMPLAINING instead of THANKFULNESS becomes our ATTITUDE. It is human nature
to be thinking about all the things that have gone wrong and sometimes
continue to go wrong. That was the problem with the disciples when they
were too focused on forgetting bread! When Jesus
addressed 'watch out for the yeast of the
Pharisees and Herod', the disciples automatically assumed Jesus
was addressing the bread issue.
Jesus had to remind them that
was not the case. Jesus used the pronoun, 'I', twice to make them
REMEMBER what Jesus already did when He fed the 5000 and 4000. It is
also to remind us to focus on Him instead of the problems at hand and
wrong teaching.
When the Gospel of Jesus
Christ is at the focus then we REMEMBER to always focus on Christ and
allow Him to help us make decisions. It starts with REMEMBERING who
Jesus is and what He has already done in people's lives and especially
in our lives.
This morning while I was
reading Psalm 2 and Proverbs 2, I REMEMBERED few of my favorite verses
there:
"Oh, the joys of those who put their trust in
Him!" (Psalm 2)
"He shows how to distinguish right from wrong and how to find the right
decision every time!" (Proverbs 2)
Jesus wants us to REMEMBER who
Jesus is and what Jesus can do in our lives even now! More than anything Jesus has done for you
and me, Jesus wants you and I to REMEMBER that He SACRIFICED HIS LIFE
for you becoming your BREAD OF LIFE to sustain you.
Jesus wanted to save you so Jesus went
to the cross so He could die for you and the antidote to ransom you
could be collected so it can wipe away the deadly virus. The antidote is
the PRECIOUS cleansing BLOOD of the Lamb of God. The deadly virus is sin. Only
Christ's antidote can free us from where we have been and where Christ
wants us to be. I was a Hindu and I could not save myself but Christ
came to save me and chose me to be His and only His first and foremost.
Jesus died, was buried, and came back to life on the third day to save.
That means my allegiance
belongs to Christ and His teachings. I need to REMEMBER that always and proclaim the
Gospel of Jesus Christ having a Gospel centered message.
When we REMEMBER that we are
sinners in NEED OF GRACE and only Christ saved us from the sin that
marred creation, our heart will move towards GRATITUDE because there is
nothing you or I could have done to save ourselves.
God in His Holiness will not
allow sin to enter His presence no matter how much you feel or sense
that God loves you. But, because of that love, when you give your life
over to Jesus and ask Him to be the Lord and Savior of your life, you
will have access to Heaven, because now when God sees you, He sees
Christ's Holiness and Righteousness imputed to you! Praise the Lord.
Just REMEMBERING is not enough but we
have to act on it.
So come as you are to Jesus
REMEMBERING the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, He paid for you and all the things
He has already blessed you with. Every morning when you get up, there
are reasons to be THANKFUL FOR. It won't always be easy when we are
reminded of things that did not go well or are not going well but THANKS
BE TO GOD, WE CAN HAVE OUR PEACE, COMFORT, AND STRENGTH IN JESUS.
When we REMEMBER things to be
THANKFUL for, it will also BUILD our FAITH from an ATTITUDE OF DOUBT!
May you REMEMBER who Jesus is
what He wants to do for you than the things that have not gone right in
your life. For when you have Jesus, you will have everything as you
depend on the Lord and focus on Him.
"Remembering Emmanuel Mightily Emancipates Me Bringing Everyday
Redemption!" (R.E.M.E.M.B.E.R)/"What do you R.E.M.E.M.B.E.R in life?"
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I love you! Thank you for loving me so much and dying for my
sin. Thanks for coming back to life to save me. You shed your
precious cleansing blood for me to redeem me. Oh Lord, please help us to
remember who you are and why you came. Help us to remember your
teachings all you will do for us. Thanks so much for everything we can
be thankful to you for. If it were not for your intervention in our
lives, we would be lost and destroyed. Oh Lord, thanks for your ABUNDANT
GRACE in our lives, even when we have gone our own way. Forgive us Oh
Lord of our sins and help us to live our lives for you REMEMBERING
everything you do for us second by second. Thanks so much Jesus! Thank you for hearing
us and being there for us. Thanks for being our Redeemer everyday. Help
me Oh Lord to remember what you want that I know is from your Word and
do my part living my life for you. Thanks so much Jesus you will help us
distinguish right from wrong and find the right decision every time and
Oh the joys of those who put their trust in you! Thank you for
hearing us and answering us! In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
May you experience the POWER OF
CHRIST'S RESURRECTION this day, and give Him the LOCKED areas of your
life too so you can experience His PEACE as you become an ACTOR in the
film called LIFE being directed by your DIRECTOR, JESUS CHRIST who comes
to give JOY and PEACE.
You
don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and
give you peace to live out your actions.
How do you look at GODISNOWHERE?
One
of my pastors, Pastor Hugo shared this example this past Sunday at the
RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh
Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:
If
you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin
and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no
peace.
But
as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to
tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.
Yes,
friend God is alive and wants to bring a transformation in your life
through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on
the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and live
with us.
Yes,
friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE
& LIVING GRACE.
When
we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive
us and restore us to Him and we will find peace in Him.
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he
has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (Colossians 5:17-21, NIV)
"For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)
Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our
sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge
so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the
finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.
"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
May
you come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Personal Savior becoming
His offspring so you can spend Eternity with Him. He is waiting for you.
Come as you are. Please do not reject the gift of God.
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.
Make this your prayer. Don’t let the enemy deceive you into thinking
you need all the answers before coming to Christ. Let me just assure you
though you may not have all the answers right now before coming to
Jesus, He will answer them slowly. Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer
will! Amen!
Make this your prayer. Don’t let the enemy deceive you into thinking
you need all the answers before coming to Christ. Let me just assure you
though you may not have all the answers right now before coming to
Jesus, He will answer them slowly. Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer
will! Amen!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the Bread of Life. You are the Living Bread
of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for
the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you
Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life,
digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living
Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life.
I want that Father God. I want that Lord Jesus! I want that Holy Spirit!
I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the bread
represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your
blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord
Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and
acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that
you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me
life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my
sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to
forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me
and I will be clean from this infection of sin. Come Lord Jesus and
please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you.
I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your
home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve
you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in
me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will
be to you. Whatever your will is for me, please give me the strength and
willingness to bear it and rejoice in you. Thank you so much Jesus. I
thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Savior. I thank you
Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I
am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal
Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
