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SCRIPTURE:
“The
people ate and were satisfied." (Mark 8:8a, NIV)
Observations:
I asked myself how did the people feel after Jesus fed them?
The people ate and were satisfied!
Interpretation:
I asked the significance of the people
being satisfied?
The people had been with Jesus for 3-days and the retreat was
over but they had nothing to eat until Jesus intervened. When Jesus
intervened, He intervened in such a way that they could be satisfied.
Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. When Jesus intervenes in
my life and I take the help Jesus offers me, I will be satisfied like
the people were. The people were satisfied physically especially their
hunger pangs were but Jesus goes beyond reaching the physical needs of
people. This verse addressed the physical satisfaction but their are
implications for others areas of our lives to be satisfied too. Jesus is
able to satisfy every area of our lives when we look to Him.
I need to take the Lord's help daily to be satisfied in life.
For that to happen, I need to be in His Word and Prayer claiming His promises
and being obedient to Him so my satisfaction comes from Him and Him
alone.
This also means every facet of my life I need to give to the
Lord and ask Him to be in control.
HOW THE GOSPEL AFFECTS
MY TESTIMONY REGARDING S.A.T.I.S.F.I.E.D
There was a time in my life when I was doing full-time ministry
that I was making only $94.00 a week because I wanted to focus most of
my time on reaching students with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The
amazing thing is that I was so satisfied with that amount financially
and Jesus was taking care of all my needs including my physical (shelter
and food) and emotional needs too. The Gospel is so true even now. Just
as Jesus could satisfy the people around Him, Jesus can satisfy us too.
Jesus satisfied my needs. More than that Jesus satisfied my soul.
Another time, I was so satisfied just reading books on how to
grow closer to Jesus and my walk in the Lord even though I was not doing
ministry at the time. The Gospel of Jesus Christ reached areas of my
life to satisfy me.
I could have had everything and if my soul was not satisfied it
would have been for nothing. But Jesus came to satisfy our souls
including mine. When I gave my soul to the Lord Jesus Christ, I found my
satisfaction in Him. True satisfaction is found only in Christ.
I ask you now dear friend, when are you
satisfied in life?
Dear friend, people are satisfied in life for different reasons.
Some are satisfied when they make a lot of money, when they are married,
when they eat good food everyday, when they are surrounded by friends,
when they do well in school, etc. But even
all these reasons cannot bring true satisfaction in none of our lives
without receiving the help given by Jesus.
For truly only Jesus Christ can satisfy us in our lives as the
people were satisfied after eating in Jesus' presence. They let Jesus be
involved in their lives.
Without Jesus and being obedient to Him in our lives, we will
become self-oriented, and self-centered.
Without allowing Jesus to come in and transform our hearts and
minds, we will not be satisfied in life and there will always be an
emptiness inside of us. This emptiness is caused by a void in us due to
the virus known as sin. This sin keeps making the void bigger and bigger
in us bringing total dissatisfaction eventually.
On the surface, it may look like we are satisfied and have
everything together but this is far from the truth. Look at Hollywood
and the suicide rates prevalent there too! Many of these
actors/actresses have fame, fortune, fun, etc but still they are not
satisfied and many commit suicides.
This just shows satisfaction in life cannot be bought by fame,
fortune, or fun but only by Father God. Only Father God can give us the
true satisfaction and contentment in our lives as Jesus did for the
crowds.
Wherever you are if you have not given your life to Christ, give
your life to Christ right now. You will never be the same because He
will transform your life with the Holy Spirit as He will give you a
transfusion with the antidote of His precious cleansing blood to wipe
away all the sin and fill the void with His presence.
Jesus can do that for you because He loves you so much that He
went to the cross to die for you shedding His precious cleansing blood,
was buried, and came back to life on the third day to save.
This is exciting to me and should be exciting to you too. On our
own we will never be truly satisfied apart from the Lord for I can speak
from personal experience.
When you come to Christ and give your life to Him, He will
always be there for you never forsaking you or leaving you. This means
Satan cannot snatch you away from the Lord no matter what is happening
in your life. You can claim the promises of God for you in John 10.
Pastor Paul Bucknell, a missionary at OIF shared with me that
I need to always put on the Helmet of Salvation so I am not putting
myself in danger to be injured seriously.
How true that is for when I lose focus on the Salvation that
Jesus came to give for me and saved me, then I become so law-based and
works-based that I think my Salvation is dependent on the things I do.
There is nothing I do or say that can keep me saved if it were not for
the blood of Christ shed on the hill of Golgotha.
Pastor Hugo Cheng of Pittsburgh Chinese Church-Oakland (PCCO)
and Pastor Ed of PCCO-Oakland International Fellowship make me see that
there is a danger of forgetting what Jesus did on the cross for us and
how important His blood shed on the cross was for humanity's redemption.
Jesus Christ bought us with His precious blood once and for all. We are
bought and paid for by His Blood. This means we can never belong to
Satan once we are in Christ and with Christ since we belong to Christ.
It is Jesus who paid the ultimate price on the cross for me to
forgive me of my past, present, and future sins so I can be satisfied in
Him and Him alone. My Salvation is secure in Christ forever and I never
need to doubt whether I am saved or not because Jesus already saved me
and bought me while I was still a sinner.
It is in Christ I find true satisfaction as I live for Him and
allowing Him to live in me guiding me and leading me. This gives me
excitement to want to lead others to Christ so they can receive Christ's
cleansing blood in their lives too for Eternal Salvation and to be set
free from the bondage of sin and be satisfied in Him.
Pastor Ed of Oakland International Fellowship emphasizes the
centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ begins at the Cross of Christ
and what happened there but it does not end there. The Gospel of Jesus
Christ is not only good for SAVING US through JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE but
also for LIVING through SANCTIFICATION BY GRACE so we can have
GLORIFICATION BY GRACE where we will be ultimately satisfied!
Once we take the Cross out of picture then there is no Salvation
or guarantee of Salvation for anyone. It is the Cross of Christ and what
Jesus did there that gives us Eternal Salvation and satisfaction no
matter what is happening in our lives because we are in the loving arms
of love in the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. It starts with
understanding SAVING GRACE and LIVING BY GRACE and GRACE alone.
May you come to experience the Salvation in Christ in His
presence so you can always be satisfied in Him and Him alone.
"Salvation
After Trusting Immanuel Satisfies Forever Imparting Eternal
Deliverance!" (S.A.T.I.S.F.I.E.D)/"When are you S.A.T.I.S.F.I.E.D in
life?"
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, I love you so much. Thank you for loving me so much and
freeing me from thinking I need to do this and that to feel saved. You
saved me when you paid the ultimate price on the Cross of Calvary by
shedding your precious cleansing blood, being buried, and coming back to
life on the 3rd day to save. You gave me the opportunity to receive you
into my life so you can work miracles in my life and bring about a
transformation as I live through the years. Thank you that your Word
says, you who began a good work in us will finish it to completion now
and forever more. Thank you my Salvation is secure in you Lord. Help me
to always focus on you and live for you so I can be satisfied. When I
take my mind of you I may feel temporary satisfaction doing the things I
want but it will not fulfill me as only you can. So Lord, I ask you to
be in control of my life and I feed on your Word for satisfaction. There
is nothing I can do or say that can save me except your blood which
became my antidote. Thank you Jesus! Thank you for hearing my prayers
and answering me! 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!
