Matthew 27-28

Lack of Faith?
Matthew 27-28

Good Morning! I pray that you have had a restful weekend. Over the weekend we started the book of Mark. At first glance each of the four Gospels may look to be the same. The same people, same stories, and they all end the same way. So, some may read one, but not read the other three thinking that if you have read one, you do not need to read the others.

We will take a closer look, and hopefully you will see the difference between the four. If you have a friend that wanted to start to read the Bible, Mark would be an awesome book to start them on. If you look at Matthew, the start of the book goes into all the genealogy of Jesus. I know that if I started to read any story, a full line of genealogy would put me to sleep.Mark is a short book, that tell his stories in rapid fire. He tells you the facts, then moves on. Mark uses the word "Immediately" or "At once" 42 times in his book. 42% of the Gospel are Jesus' words. Mark wrote this Gospel under the direction of Peter.

Mark 6:2-6 ESV
2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the
synagogue, and many who heard him were
astonished, saying, "Where did this man get
these things? What is the wisdom given to him?
How are such mighty works done by his hands?
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and
brother of James and Josesph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took
offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, "A prophet
is not without honor, except in his hometown and
among his relatives and in his own household."
5 And he could do no mighty work there, except
that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed
them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.

Lack of Faith
All through the Gospels we read of stories of extreme faith. These people were willing to risk their well being just to be healed. Or we read where Jesus could sense a person's genuine faith in Him.

Then in Mark 6 we see an example of the extreme opposite. The people in Jesus' hometown heard the same message and the same miracles that others have heard, but instead of accepting it, they tried to humanize it. Instead of accepting the divine in Jesus they accepted the human side of Him. Their hearts were hardened, and as you read the end of the story; they missed out on a lot of Jesus miracles. The sick remained sick, the suffering kept on suffering. In fact the Bible even goes as far as to say "Jesus was AMAZED at their lack of faith."

I know that the same is true today. There are some of us that can't accept the divinity of Jesus. Yes, we call ourselves Christians, we are good people, but Jesus was just a good man or a good prophet. I would guess that Jesus is not very active in those people's lives.

Then there are some of us, that do believe the divinity of Jesus. But, we still lack the faith, or maybe a better word is that we do not stretch our faith to see Jesus do miracles in our lives. One example; a person is tight or struggling with money. Because of this reason they do not give Jesus a percent of what is His in the first place (They do not tithe), ie. they lack the faith to trust Jesus that He will provide for them. So as it says in Mark 6, Jesus is not active in their lives, they stay stuck in their sufferings.

If you feel that Jesus is not active in your life, take a look at Mark 6 again. Is Jesus speaking about you? I can tell you honestly, faith is not easy, it is hard. But I can also tell you, that every time Kim and I have stepped out in faith, Jesus has met us there. We have seen things that humanly speaking should not have happened.

I wanted to wish Kimmy a Happy Birthday, still holding at 39 dear? :) - Jim

Thank you honey I love you!!

Bible Trivia
Who was the driving force behind the beheading of John the Baptist?
Hint: Mark 6:22-25

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The Connection ChurchIt looks like GOD is going to allow us to sign a lease for a building this month. We are planning our first service 11/4/07. We still need your prayers as there is going to be a lot of work that we are going to need to do.If you would like a copy of our current newsletter, please reply back to this devotional.If you would like to commit to prayer for us, please visit our Prayer Page page.