Mark – Page 56 – I'm Following Jesus

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Saturday, November 09, 2019
Chapters: Mark 14
Message: How God Responds

Hello My Friend,

I discovered something this week, God listens to you, He talks to you, and He responds to you according to how you respond to Him, not just in the reading His Word as so many say is the only way He answers you, but really responds. Okay, so, I have known for quite some time that God does speak to me. What I did discover is that when I actually do listen to Him, and respond to Him accordingly, that is when you know you are in His will, and before you even ask Him for anything He blesses you. Now, that is when you know that even though you mess up daily, His grace abounds. Praise God! “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” – I John 5:13-16.

“and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.” So, why did God lead me to this Scripture? I have to tell you, the one thing I did for my birthday that superseded any gift I got, I witnessed to someone. Let me tell you, there is no greater gift than to tell someone how they can receive the gift of eternal life themselves. You see, if we want God to respond to us accordingly, we need to respond to Him accordingly. One; We need Christ, without Him, God will not hear us. Two; We need to confess sin, if we have unrepentant sin, God will not hear us. And Three; We need faith, if we do not have faith, God will not hear us. Now, God speaks to us all the time, but it is our response to Him that brings Him to respond to us. Two days before Jesus would be captured He, and the disciples went to dinner with Simon, he was one of the men Jesus cured of leprosy. A woman was there, and she went up to Jesus and did something they all questioned, especially Judas Iscariot.

“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” – Mark 14:3- 9.

“Why was this waste of the ointment made?” Now, these people were not worried about the poor, or Jesus, nor this woman, whom by the way, had this very expensive bottle of perfume saved for her wedding day. “this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” God had led her to anoint His Son with this beautiful gift as very shortly He would be captured, crucified, and buried in a tomb. What this woman did was give her life as a living sacrifice, she would never be married, but that did not concern her, she put her faith before her flesh, and Jesus responded to that, she would be blessed the rest of her life for the sacrifice she made, and on top of that, she would become a bride of Christ (Revelation 21:1-9), having received the greatest gift she will ever receive for her faith in Him, eternal life. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Romans 6:23.

Remember, at this point, the disciples themselves were not saved yet, all of this was just as much a surprise to them as it was the rest of the Jews. The Passover had come, Jesus sent the disciples to prepare for one last meal they would have together, this would literally be the last time all twelve would dine together.

“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.” – Mark 14:22-31.

“This is my blood of the new testament,” You must never forget what Jesus did to save your soul, you cannot look at this as the body of Christ as a whole, you have to narrow it down to what Christ did for you. Forget about everyone else, think about you, the life you lived before you knew Christ, and the life He saved you from. I do not even want to know where I would be right now had I never listened to God fifteen years ago, when He literally yelled at me to get up because He did not bring me here to die in my sin. Praise God! “But he spake the more vehemently,” We all like to think that our faith is strong enough to handle the pressures that come from our faith in Christ. Let me tell you, we never know how our response will be when faced with persecution, more often than we care to admit, we deny Him. Jesus knows this, and yet, He never forgets that we did put our faith and trust in Him as our Saviour. In that case, we just turn Christ, tell Him we are sorry, and move forward, He has, so we must also. “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” – Hebrews 6:9-10.

Now, while they were up on Mount Olives, Jesus left most of them there, and went further up into Gethsemane, taking Peter and James with Him, and began to pray. “And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.” – Mark 14:34-38.

“if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.” At this point, Jesus, fully God, yet individually in the person of the Son of God, feels that deep sorrow that we all have when we are faced when God’s will comes as a challenge. We are often willing to follow His will when God asks us to do something simple, but when our life is on the line, that does not come so easily. Of course, this was not the case with Jesus, He came here for one reason, and that was to be that unblemished blood sacrifice that would bring redemption to all who receive Him, but that did not stop the human side of Him from asking His Father if He would take the cup away. Believe it or not, we, who live by faith, are created in the image of Christ. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” – Romans 8:29-30.

“he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,” This means that from creation, God had already predetermined and predestined all who believe in His Son to be conformed into His image, meaning, we can stand before Him as though we are perfect, justified of any sin we ever committed. “Watch ye and pray,” This is the key to, “Thy Will Be Done”. People tell me all the time that God does not always provide for them, that God does not hear them, even that God does not love them. All of these are responses are due to the fact that they are really not trusting God as they ought to be. Let me tell you, God uses every challenge we face to determine our faith, and that is what He responds to. We are not always going to meet that challenge, in fact, we will fail Him quite often in that. Yet God is always faithful, and while we may lose out on some blessings because we failed Him (just think of Moses and how he could not go into the promised land due to his sinning against God out of anger), we will not miss out on the greatest blessing of all, eternal life with Him. Praise God for His mercies and grace. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” – I Corinthians 6:9-11.

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for taking my place on the cross, and making my redemption permanent the second I asked You to save me. I may not have always understood what that meant, and I know I failed you more times than I can count, but I know it now. You do not even think about my past because my faith in You has removed all my sin, but that does not stop You from encouraging me remain faithful to You. There is not one thing that You have done in obedience to the Father, that I am not capable of doing, except dying on the cross. Lord, lead me and guide me, fill me with Your faith, love mercy and grace, teach me, empower me, strengthen me to follow Your will for my life as being a living sacrifice. And as I walk with You, let me never forget what You have done for me in this life so that I may be a witness to those who need You too. I love You Lord, and ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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