What Tradition will you follow 8-15-2021

Lucy and the Sceance

Have any of you ever seen I Love Lucy?

My sister and I used to watch it a lot while we ate dinner.

One day Lucy and Ethel started following their horoscopes.

A horoscope is like a fortune cookie for the day.

Have you ever had a fortune cookie and read the little note inside?

Most of us think of those messages as a funny joke, but some people believe them.

They put trust in them that they should be in other people or trust that they should be putting in God.

So on the Lucy show, they wanted to make a man who lost his wife happy so,

they tried to pretend they could talk to the dead, but things went wrong, and they

almost tricked themselves into believing they could talk to the dead.

But the guest wasn’t tricked.

In that story they all had a big laugh over it but God’s word says,

have nothing to do with those who say they can talk to the dead.

Most people are not harmed much by this silliness but some are very much harmed.

A widdow lady had missions of dollars she could have invested wisely and helped people but she followed horiscopes and mediums and she always had people building on her house, it’s a crazy place with stairs to ceilings, rooms build and then walled off, all because someone told her, the dead wanted her to keep building, constently building. And she believed it.

Let’s pray and be ready to come back for communion with your folks in a little while.

PRAY

PUC

We had a great time at the Global Leadership Summit 2021!

Our simulcast was in Portland at the Valley View Evangelical Church in Clackamas OR

One thing they said often was,

“When the leader gets better, everyone gets better.”

He was the first speaker and my favorite speaker!

He said, he had been looking for a word describing what leaders need to endure and get better.

and he couldn’t find one, so he coined his own word

PUC

Pain

Uncertainty

Chaos

Pain - the ability to endure painful situations and relationships without giving up

Uncertainty - the ability to endure uncertain futures where we don’t know how we are going to get the job done, like church services outside of church walls and

Chaos - The leader can control everything, and that will limit the church a lot since there is only one person or they can raise up other leaders and know there is going to be problems and confusion when things are done by others in there own way.

He did warn you have to be careful how you use the word,

pronounce it with care

As the church grows I hope each of us will become better at dealing with PUC

Pain

Uncertainty and

Chaos.

Well let’s look at God’s word the morning as we finsh out Mark chapter 6

Mark 6:45–56 NIV

45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. 47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. 53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Are you ready to dig in this morning

or ready to sleep!

A thankful heart

45-45 Example of prayer after a blessed event

Our passage begins right after the feeding of the 5,000 and the 12 baskets of scraps left over.

And Jesus sends his disciples to the other side

Jesus dismisses the crowd and then

what does he do?

Mark 6:46 NIV

46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Many often realize they should pray before a service, or before a special event but who thinks of praying after an event.

It’s done, it’s time to rest,

what could Jesus have to pray about?

Unless of course he has a thankful heart?

I wounder how much of his hours of prayer that nigher were given to expressing thanks to the Father for the Blessing of showing up that day, the blessing of validating all that they were doing together in Galilee and beyond. I wounder how long Jesus expressed thanks to the Father before moving on to praying about tomorrows events.

And with conviction, I wonder how often we express thanks to God for showing up and blessing what we are doing

How often do we thank Him for being real in our lives

Today, as we take communion, be sure to take some time to thank God for the blessing in your life.

And if I move on to the next step, just keep praying if you need to.

So then what happens, Jesus looks and sees their progress and goes walking across the lake

Tradition holds that Peter helped Mark write his gospel and it’s interesting that Mark makes no mention of Peter walking on the water out to meet Jesus.

Mark 6:48–50 NIV

48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Whose afraid of Ghosts?

What does the bible say about Ghosts, spirits,

other than the Holy Spirit,

the angels and

the demons?

It doesn’t really talk about the ghosts of people, except for Samuel, he seems to be the only one raised as a spirit.

You probably know the story of the witch of Endor who, though she may have always been a fake, appeared to raise the prophet Samuel from the dead?

It’s found in 1 Samuel 28:3-19

I have no doubt that Samuel appeared, I just doubt whether the women had much to do with it.

King Saul defied God’s law to call upon a medium to raise Samuel from the Dean and it may have been the only real seance that ever happened.

The bible does not talk about ghosts inhabiting a place

The bible doesn’t talk about GHOSTS being stuck here with unresolved issues

Holywood and fictional stories do.

What does the Bible say

The bible says

Hebrews 9:27 NIV

27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

The Bible says we live:

one life,

we die one and then

we face judgement

One life and then judgement

Not one life and then

Years of unresolved issue as a ghost

while haunting your old house

Only moving on when issues are resolved,

One life and then judgement, Not one life

And then transmigration of the soul into another incarnation

another life to live

The bible say to live once and then judgement

Do we see human ghosts anywhere else on earth in the scripture?

Perhaps at the transfiguration recorded in Mark chapter 9 but they might have been solid people not ghosts.

Where do we find the spirits of dead people then in the bible

We can see the marters for Christ in heaven under the altar in Rev. 6.9

Revelation 6:9 NIV

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

But even these souls are interesting because they are all given white robes and told to wait a while longer.

What does the bible say about trying to interact with these assumed ghosts.

Have nothing to do with them.

Lev 19.31 Lev 20.6 Duet 18-10-11

In our cultural fantasy,

there are scary stories with ghosts, that I don’t care for,

like the exorcist.

There are light hearted stories of ghosts like:

The ghost and Mrs. Muir, or

A Christmas Carol.

But we know those are just stories,

sometimes told to entertain,

sometimes told to make a point.

What did the disciples do when they saw Jesus

Mark 6:49–50 NIV

49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

May they made the mistake like my friends, and

watch the Exorcist.

Not really, but they must have heard some scary ghost stories in their day too.

Getting to the Homework from my last message

why were the disciples terrified, what had they failed to learn from the feeing of the 5,000?

.

.

.

They should have learned that Jesus has power over all nature.

If they had truely learned that Jesus had the power to multiply food,

it should have been a no brainer that he could do other

Unbeliveable things

What if they had learned the lesson from Jesus feeding 5,000 with a few fish and loves of bread.

Instead of being terrified the disciples should have said

Oh high Jesus, I see you can walk on water too.

Never would have guest it but here you are.

I wonder what blessings God has done for us that we totally missed

and so, we didn’t see God’s handiwork the next time He did something for us.

Because our hearts were hard.

Sometimes,

We don’t understand Gods word

We don’t see or comprehend God’s miracles because

We refuse to believe what’s right in front of us

The power of God to change things.

If we fully understand God’s power over nature

When the food supply is multiplied

We won’t be amazed that God can also walk on the water

A living example of changed hearts.

Would you believe me if I told you,

people can have an encounter with God,

that makes them uncomfortable,

and flee from him,

Yet over time, God can change there hearts.

That is what happened to the Gennesaretites

53-56 A change of heart toward Jesus

Mark 6:53–56 NIV

53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

You remember Jesus first encounter with these people after the herd of pigs ran into the see.

The people were shocked, and some faced financial loss.

What did they do?

They rejected Jesus, they asked him to go away.

Now he’s back

and something has happend with the people attitude.

They are not asking him to leave.

They are rushing to bring other people to Jesus to heal.

Over time their concern for money has gone down and their concern and compassion for others has gone up and they have seen the living witness of the changed man.

Many a person begins to hear about Jesus and they say No way do I want that in my life.

but sometimes, as they see lives changed

as they hear peoples stories

they come to a point of interest

They start to think,

I want that in my life.

Perhaps some of you are at that point this morning,

ready to commit.

You can pray to receive Christ this morning if you will

I’ll leave room for that in our communion time.

Someone call the children back

Giving Thanks

We have seen today that even the Son of God needed to take a break and give thanks to the Father, after a time of blessing and ministry.

How have you been blessed? Do you have any thanks to say to God today?

Remembering our lessons

We have seen Ghosts, the spirits of humans who have already passed aways,

are never mentioned as residents on earth

even though our movies and entertainment place them with us

We have seen that

if we harden our hearts to see god working in one area,

we probably will be amazed when he works in another way too.

[Lord, remove our hearts of stone so we can see and believe when you work in our lives]

Sometimes our knee jerk response to Jesus call on our lives,

whether it is to accept him, or

to answer a calling might be NO,

go away like the Gennnesaret folks

but the witness of a changed life,

the witness of God’s power can convince us,

we are missing out and

And god has something we want and we really need,

Perhaps as we come to Christ today you will want to pray to receive him or pray to surrender to his will.