Tag:

Faith

Jesus Stopped

by TerryLema

Mark 10 contains the story of blind Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was sitting by the Jericho road begging when he heard a commotion—the sound of many people going by. He must have asked someone what was happening and was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. I’m sure Bartimaeus knew of Jesus and all the miracles He had been performing as He traveled the countryside, and in his desperation he begins to cry out to Him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” [v47 NKJV]

Those around Bartimaeus told him to be quiet, but the more they tried to shush him, the more desperate and loud his cry becomes—until it reaches the ears of Jesus. Then the most marvelous thing happens, “Jesus stood still.” [v49]

Jesus stopped. He stopped. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. The triumphal entry into the city was just ahead of Him, and the shadow of the cross was looming. He was about to finish the work of the Father that was the very meaning of His life, but one blind man with a need, sitting on the side of the road stopped Him in His tracks.

Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted; Bartimaeus told Jesus he wanted to see. Then Jesus healed him. “Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well.’ And immediate he received his sight ….” [v52a]

Now I don’t know if Bartimaeus was blind from birth or lost his sight later in life. I do know that the first thing he sees now is the face of the Savior and his response is to follow Jesus on the road. [v52b]

Part of me wonders if Bartimaeus saw the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, and if he stayed in Jerusalem to see the crucifixion. Was he part of the 500 who saw Jesus following the Resurrection, or part of the group on the mountain watching Him ascend? I don’t know, but I’m hoping he was.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Go in Peace

by TerryLema

The last event in Luke 7 always makes me want to weep. It begins with verse 36 and ends at verse 50, and is the account of a Pharisee, Jesus, and a woman who had lived a sinful life.

Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee. Common courtesy was to provide water so that visitors could wash the dust of the road from their feet and to greet an honored guest with a kiss. This Pharisee did neither, but a woman snuck into the room with an alabaster jar of perfume. She came to Jesus and washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, kissed them and then poured the expensive perfume upon them. The Pharisee recognized her as a “sinful woman” and wondered why Jesus would even allow such to touch Him.

A sinful woman. What would it have been like to know that everyone knew your sins and that you bore a label that forever linked you with them?

A desperate woman. A woman desperate enough to give her the courage to enter the presence of men who knew all about her and scorned her for her life.

A woman of repentance and faith. Jesus saw beyond the label. He saw the actions of her faith – seeking Him out, weeping in repentance, showing her thankfulness for His acceptance and love.

A forgiven woman. “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ … Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” [Luke 7:48-50]

What a wonderful Savior.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Fear & Faith – Part 3

by TerryLema

Let’s end this first month of 2020 with one last thought from Jesus and the disciples in the great storm recorded in Mark 4:35-41. (One of my favorite lessons that you’ve probably heard many times from me. But I remember what a bible college professor always said, “repetition increases remembrance!”)

Jesus had commanded the disciples in the boat with Him to go to the other side and they obeyed. Their obedience put them right in the midst of a very grave storm and they thought they were in danger of going under, all the while Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat, exhausted from that day’s work. Finally, the disciples wake Him and chastise Him for what they regarded as His lack of concern for them. After quieting the storm with a word, Jesus chastises them for their lack of faith.

Jesus understood the most dangerous thing for the disciples was not the storm – no matter how wildly it raged. The most dangerous part for them was their unbelief, their lack of faith in God’s ability to protect them and enable them to reach their goal – the other side.

Our greatest problems are within us, not around us. The true danger isn’t in the storm, it’s in our hearts. Hebrews 3:13 goes so far as to warn us about our “sinful, unbelieving heart” that has the power to turn us away from the Living God.

No storm can drive us to the bottom when Jesus is in the boat … no, we are guaranteed to get to the other side. But, but, our own hearts can turn us away from the Living God, and when that happens, even the mildest of storms may sink us.

Oh Father, keep our hearts of faith set securely in You. Amen.

 

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Fear & Faith – Part 2

by TerryLema

Yesterday we began to look at Mark 4:35-41, one of my favorite lessons in the lives of the disciples – the calming of the storm. In their obedience to follow Jesus’ command to “go over to the other side,” they had ended up in a great storm, one described by Matthew with the word, “seismos,” an earthquake on the sea.

While the disciples were fighting the elements, Jesus, exhausted, was asleep in the stern, resting on a pillow. Finally, when it appeared they were about to sink, they woke Him up, chastising Him for His seeming lack of care. “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?“ [v 38 NIV]

I love the people of the Bible, they are so real! Under the same circumstances, I would have done the same thing. And bless our sweet Jesus, He calms the storm. But then He does something else, He asks them where their faith was. They had heard Him teach many times, seen miracle after miracle, and even seen Him raise the dead. Did they think He was now going to let them drown?

Faith will always be tested. It’s not enough to merely hear a teaching, learn it intellectually, or even be able to repeat it. The lessons of God must be put into practical experience. What we hear from God’s Word must govern our daily walk with Him.

Jesus knew the storm was coming that night. It was part of that day’s lesson. The disciples had listened to His teachings, but had they learned them? The storm provided that opportunity.

Tomorrow – the greatest danger was not the storm.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Fear & Faith – Part 1

by TerryLema

My message at The Way last Sunday was one of my favorite stories in the lives of the disciples – the calming of the storm in Mark 4:35-41. If you have a moment, grab your Bible and read those few short verses. There are so many lessons contained therein for us.

Jesus had been teaching all day. The crowds were so great and pressing upon Him that He had gotten into a boat and had it pushed a small distance from shore. It seems to have been a grueling session since later than night He told His disciples to take the boat to the other side of the lake (the Sea of Galilee). While they sailed, He went to the stern of the boat and fell asleep on a pillow.

He must have been exhausted as he did not awaken even when the storm came and intensified. His disciples were wide awake, however, during what Mark describes as a “squall,” literally a “hurricane of wind.” They were trying to keep their boat afloat and be obedient to what Jesus had commanded them – to go over to the other side.

I have met (and shepherded) some who think that if you are experiencing a trial, it is because you are in disobedience to the LORD. Their “proof” is always the example of Jonah who disobeyed, ended up in a storm and then a fish before finally being obedient.

But these disciples were obedient. Jesus said, “Let us go over to the other side,” and that is exactly what they were trying to do. [vs 35 NIV]

Sometimes we might find ourselves in a storm even though we are in perfect obedience to the will of God. Thankfully, when that happens, Jesus is in the storm with us!

Tomorrow – the fearful disciples awaken Jesus and learn a lesson about fear and faith.

0 comment
FacebookEmail

Let Us Ask in Faith

by TerryLema

One last lesson this week from James 1:2-8. We already seen that we are to count it all joy when you fall into various trials and that if we lack wisdom and ask God, He will give wisdom to us liberally and without reproaching us for the wisdom we might have wasted in the past.

James goes on and adds one last thought and that is the caveat. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” [NKJV]

Amid the joy in trials and the asking for wisdom there must be a covering of faith. The writer of Hebrews said it this way, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” [Heb 11:6 NIV]

While we are in this body on this earth, our relationship with our Father will be conducted through faith. We can’t hop a plane and fly to where He’s located and take a taxi from the airport to His office to visit with Him for an hour or so – as much as we’d like to on occasion. We must come to Him by faith, which is often difficult when we are assaulted by doubt or fear.

Yet each time we come to Him, each time we present our request for wisdom and receive it liberally, each time we sense His presence with us in the trials of life makes our faith stronger and stronger and our doubts and fears subside.

Father, we need your wisdom as the times grow more and more difficult. Be with us, we pray. Amen & Amen.

0 comment
FacebookEmail