011109.Mark 1.4-11.Going Public
“Going Public”
Mark 1:4-11
January 11, 2009
Pastor Paul Jang
Prayer.
Scripture reading: Mark 1:4-11
4 This messenger was John the Baptist.
He was in the wilderness and preached
that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God to receive forgiveness for their sins.
5 All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John.
And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
6 His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist.
For food he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 John announced:
"Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—
so much greater that I'm not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals.
8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!"
9 ¶ One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee,
and John baptized him in the Jordan River.
10 As Jesus came up out of the water,
he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove.
11 And a voice from heaven said,
"You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy."
Year in Review 2004
Brin, Sergey, and Page, Larry
On Aug. 19, 2004, Sergey Brin and Larry Page went from being promising computer science graduate students to multibillionaire technology mavens when Google, Inc., the online search engine company they had founded in 1998, issued its much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO). By creating the easy-to-use hypertext search engine Google, one of the most successful applications in the history of the Internet, Brin and Page had provided World Wide Web browsing at its simplest to millions of ordinary computer users and had added a new verb, to google, to the English language.
Sergey Brin was born in the Soviet Union in 1973 and moved with his family from Moscow to the United States in 1979. After receiving degrees (1993) in computer science and mathematics at the University of Maryland, he entered Stanford University's graduate program. Lawrence Page was born in 1972 in East Lansing, Mich., where his father was a computer science professor. He received a computer engineering degree from the University of Michigan. In early 1995 Brin was assigned to show a new Stanford graduate student—Page—around campus, and by year's end the duo had joined forces.
Brin and Page were intrigued with the idea of enhancing the ability to extract meaning from the mass of data accumulating on the Internet. They began working from Page's dormitory room to devise a new type of search technology, which they dubbed BackRub. The key was to leverage Web users' own ranking abilities by tracking each Web site's “backing links”—that is, the number of other pages linked to them. Most search engines simply returned a list of Web sites ranked by how often a search phrase appeared on them. Brin and Page incorporated into the search function the number of links each Web site had—i.e., a Web site with thousands of links would logically be more valuable than one with just a few links, and the search engine thus would place the heavily linked site higher on a list of possibilities. Further, a link from a heavily linked Web site would be a more valuable “vote” than one from a more obscure Web site. Meanwhile, the partners established an idealistic 10-point corporate philosophy that included “Focus on the user and all else will follow,” “Fast is better than slow,” and “You can make money without doing evil.”
In mid-1998 Brin and Page began receiving outside financing (one of their first investors was a cofounder of Sun Microsystems, Inc.). They ultimately raised about $1 million from investors, family, and friends and set up shop in Menlo Park, Calif., under the name Google, which was derived from a misspelling of Page's original planned name, googol (a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeroes). By mid-1999, when Google received a $25 million round of venture capital funding, it was processing 500,000 queries per day. Activity exploded when Google became the client search engine for one of the Web's most popular sites, Yahoo!, and by 2004 users were “googling” 200 million times a day (roughly 138,000 queries per minute). The IPO, which netted more than $3.8 billion apiece for Brin and Page, cemented Google's amazing transformation from dorm room hobby to multibillion-dollar technology powerhouse.
2004: Google's initial public offering on August 19 was viewed as a major Wall Street event, and it raised $1.66 billion for the company and some of its shareholders. Google executives and bankers, fearing the offering might not be as successful as they had originally hoped, lowered the initial stock price to $85 a share from a planned range of $108–$135. The stock was well received by the market, however, and by year's end it had more than doubled its initial offering price. The stock offering also made news because of the unusual way it was handled. Shares were sold in a public auction intended to put the average investor on an equal footing with the professionals of the financial industry.
Initial Public Offering - IPO
What Does Initial Public Offering - IPO Mean?
The first sale of stock by a private company to the public. IPOs are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking the capital to expand, but can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded.
In an IPO, the issuer obtains the assistance of an underwriting firm, which helps it determine what type of security to issue (common or preferred), the best offering price and the time to bring it to market.
Also referred to as a "public offering".
Investopedia explains Initial Public Offering - IPO...
IPOs can be a risky investment. For the individual investor, it is tough to predict what the stock will do on its initial day of trading and in the near future because there is often little historical data with which to analyze the company. Also, most IPOs are of companies going through a transitory growth period, which are subject to additional uncertainty regarding their future values.
Baptism:
The practice of baptism is widespread. Examples include the Hindu rituals in the Ganges River, the purification ritual in the Babylonian cult of Enki, and the Egyptian practices of purifying newborn children and the symbolic revivification rites performed on the dead. Baptizō and related terms were used to define ritual practices in early Cretan religion, Thracian religion, Eleusinian mystery religions and in several gnostic groups and cults.
Common elements are associated with these wide spread baptismal practices. Except when used metaphorically, baptism is always associated with water. Baptism is performed in connection with the removal of guilt, cleansing and the granting of a new start.
Conversion from heathenism to Judaism was viewed as an entry into life from the dead, and this was the source for the Christian doctrine of the new life of a convert to Christ. It should be noted, however, that in Judaism the concept is only secondarily associated with proselyte baptism, and it shows up only in later traditions. The distinctive Christian understanding of baptism in terms of dying and rising is based on the convert’s relationship to Christ who died and rose from the dead.
It is especially significant that John’s baptism was received by Jews rather than Gentiles. John demanded moral repentance and cleansing for the Pharisees. Jewish proselyte baptism, of course, served as an initiation rite for Gentiles, but Jews, since they were already the people of God, did not need the rite. If John’s baptism was developed from Jewish proselyte practices, he transformed it significantly.
Rather, John was concerned with bringing about a messianic consciousness within the parameters of genuine repentance. John’s call for a one-time baptism for those who had been born as Jews was unprecedented. He insisted that one’s ancestry was not adequate to guarantee one’s relationship with God.
What was the relevance of John’s baptism to Jesus? Did Jesus need to repent? Matthew alone tells us that John tried to deter Jesus from being baptized, ostensively because baptism implies that a person has sin of which they must repent. John seems to recognize his own sinfulness in comparison with Jesus and notes that their roles should be reversed—Jesus should be baptizing John. Jesus’ reply seems to acknowledge the logic of John’s argument, but he nevertheless requests baptism for a different reason.
Theologically, the baptism of Jesus identifies Jesus as the messianic servant who stands in solidarity with his people. As their representative he came “to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt 3:15). Righteousness in Matthew’s Gospel refers to those who are upright and law-abiding, obedient and faithful to God’s commandments.
Jesus’ solidarity with sinners!
Charlemagne:
“Charlemagne was the most powerful European ruler of the Middle Ages, leading a people called the Franks to rule most of Europe. Under his rule, many people got baptized into the Church. It was pretty much expected of his soldiers, for example. In fact, they would go down to the river en masse and take the plunge.
But one source reports that there was one thing that was a bit unusual about the baptisms of those soldiers. When they would go under the water, they would hold one hand out of the water with their sword in that hand. They didn't want that hand baptized. That was the one they wanted to be free to use to kill whoever they needed to kill.”
All of us here struggle with giving our all to the Lord. We might understand how precious the kingdom of Heaven is—how precious Jesus’ blood is—what amazing precious treasure the Gospel is.
And we are willing to give our all—so we say. But we are like these soldiers who go into the water with their one hand with the sword. We are not willing to completely die to ourselves and allow Jesus to live in us. the whole, entire us.
You know what your hand is. That 1% you feel you cannot give to God. Ironically, it’s that thing that matters most to you. Yes. Even more than the kingdom of God. We might even convince ourselves into believing that that hand will actually be used for the kingdom of God. We are good at deceiving ourselves. Aren’t we?
Sure, I can’t see what your hand looks like. That clenched fist we refuse to submerge under the water—that idol in our lives. God sees it. God sees it.
Don’t let that one thing cost your freedom and joy in the Lord. Don’t let that one thing have you separated in the hot fiery place at the end of the age.
What is Baptism:
Initiation Event—you become a new person—have you been baptized, and have become a follower of Jesus Christ?
Symbolism of death, burial and resurrection—What are you going to put to death in 2006? What is that thing you have been holding with your hand?
Inner transformation and empowerment—by the Holy Spirit, how do you want your heart to change?
Lobsters-rid their old, hard, protective shell and grow a new, larger one—process of shedding an old shell, molting
25 times in the 1st 5 years of life, 1 time a year after becoming an adult
1) under the pressure, the old, hard shell cracks
2) lies on its side, flexes its muscles, pulls itself from the cracked shell
3) between the old shell and the hardening of a new, the lobster is naked and vulnerable.
Our growth and the way we get rid of our old, hard shells; allow God to take us to a new place in God.
Sign up for baptism/confirmation class (16 years or older): Sign up with Pastor Paul by 1/25. This will be in two stages. 1) write your personal testimony, 2) confirmation retreat.
A. Intro Mtg.: (Friday February 13, 2009 at Pal. Park 6-7PM)
B. Confirmation Retreat Part 1: (Saturday March 14, 2009 at Oakland 10AM-4PM) God’s story and my story: Knowing and writing my personal testimony
C. Confirmation Retreat Part 2: (Saturday May 9, 2009 at Oakland 10AM-4PM) Reviewing the Christian Basics
D. You must complete all of the above in order to be baptized/confirmed at the June 28th service.