24

Jump Start # 676

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 676

Matthew 16:9 “Do you not understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?”

Yesterday we looked at the feeding of the five thousand. A powerful miracle that illustrated the compassion and power of God. Our verse today takes place shortly after that. Jesus and the disciples get into a boat to cross the sea. Matthew reveals that they forgot to take any bread. As Jesus is teaching, the disciples are not listening. They are discussing the lack of food. Jesus is feeding the soul and the disciples are talking about their bellies.

Our verse is a rebuke from the Lord. These very disciples were part of the miracle of feeding the 5,000. They had not heard about it, they were there. They participated in feeding the crowd. They saw what Jesus did. They knew what He could do. Somehow they failed to connect that event to their trip in the boat. Couldn’t Jesus do it again? Did they forget?

From where we stand, the disciples seem a bit shallow and slow. It’s easy to see that in others. The problem is we can stand right with them. We forget past prayers that God answered. We forget blessings that God has graciously given us. We forget sins that have been forgiven. We get in a place, and there is no bread and we feel alone, helpless and desperate.

Some people seem to go from one crisis to the next. There seems to be very little calm in their schedule. They are on the edge of their faith about to go over a waterfall.

Jesus reminded them of the many baskets full of bread that the disciples picked up. What happened to those baskets? Had they eaten them already? Did they give them to others? Why pick them up? Why twelve—one for each disciple? Did Jesus see this day and tried to build faith in them?

Our failure to remember spiritual help and blessings cripples us like it did the disciples. Prayers offered in emergencies…the plea for help with prodigals…the broken hearts that beg for mercy…the dark clouds and the valleys full of shadows makes us reach out to the Lord. But then we pass through those periods. The sun comes back out. Everything looks good once again. We tend to forget. Maybe the pain and fear of those times are things that we do not want to remember. We cannot forget what good the Lord has done for us.

 

We sing, “count your many blessings, name them one by one.” That helps. It also helps to remember that God carried you through the dark days. You and I, like the disciples forget. We forget to bring bread for the journey. We forget how to find our way home. When the belly growls we are reminded. When the soul becomes worried we are reminded.

 

The disciples were not alone in the boat. Neither are we. They had Jesus, the very one who multiplied the bread. We have Jesus, the very one who blesses, forgives and helps. I wonder if the disciples picked at one another for forgetting the bread. I wonder if they played the blame game. We do that. We can be good at giving others guilt. One writer said that guilt is the gift that keeps on giving. “No bread. You were supposed to bring bread.” “Not, I.” Or, “I always have to get bread.” “Why don’t you bring some?” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it. These very disciples would later fuss at one another about who was the greatest. It seemed that they forgot again.

 

You’ve seen the slogan, “Got milk.” Got Jesus is what we get from this. Not to take care of our bellies, but to take care of our souls. Trust. He’s there. Don’t worry. Don’t fear.

 

Do you not understand, is what Jesus asked them. They didn’t. Let’s hope we do.

Roger

 

23

Jump Start # 675

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 675

Mark 6:42 “They all ate and were satisfied.”

Our verse today comes from the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. There are several interesting things to note about that miracle:

 

  • Aside from the miracles surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, this is the only miracle found in all four gospels. The raising of Lazarus, walking on water, healing of the centurion’s servant are not found in all of the gospels.

 

  • This miracle was experienced by the largest crowd. Most miracles were watched and one or two were personally affected. Our verse tells us that “They all ate.” Matthew’s account says that there were 5,000 men not counting women and children. There easily could have been 10,000-15,000 people.
  • This miracle demonstrated the power of God. The disciples asked Jesus to send the people home. Jesus told them to feed the people. They realized that they didn’t have enough money nor food to accomplish the job. They had no solution. Jesus did. God can do things when man gives up and believes things are impossible.
  • This must have been one of the longest miracles. The impression from Mark is that Jesus multiplied the food and the apostles carried it to the crowd who were sitting in groups of 50 and 100. It seems that the apostles went back and forth from Jesus to the different groups. Twelve men feeding 10,000 or more would take some time.

 

  • It is interesting that Jesus did not change the substance of the food. At another miracle he turned water into wine. Here, He multiplied what He started with.

 

Our verse shows that the crowd didn’t just get a sampling, like some stores may give you. Rather, they all ate and all were satisfied. Men tend to eat more than women. Some men take a lot of eating until they are satisfied. There was enough left over to fill twelve baskets full. That’s interesting. Twelve baskets and twelve apostles. Twelve baskets full.

The blessings from Jesus are an abundance.  They were satisfied. There is something about that statement that involves more than just food. That expression sums up the heart of a disciple and His experience with God—he is satisfied. God treats us well. God gives us an abundance. God is good to us.

Satisfied with salvation. Who could ask for more? We are the ones who sinned. We are the ones who are broken, busted and doomed. God’s grace forgives us and accepts us and includes us. We are not treated as second class citizens. We are not reminded of what we did wrong. Gone are the sins. Gone is the guilt. Gone is the hurts. The relationship with God is renewed, restored and incredible. We have trouble treating each other the way God treats us. We struggle with forgiving like God and accepting like God and letting God like God does. Satisfied with salvation.

 

Satisfied with worship. Worship is both private and individual as well as involving the church. Praising God with the church, fellow Christians is an incredible experience. Singing together of hymns, bowing heads together, studying God’s word together, being there for one another is all part of worship. Satisfied—some are not. Some want to change. Some want to go to the land of different and always do things differently. Some want more emotions and less Bible. God’s way, God’s plan fills the heart, the soul and the mind. It is challenging to the intellect and rich with feelings. Worship is about God and not us. Worship reminds us of God. We can come to a service tired, beat up and feeling defeated. We leave uplifted, encouraged and connected to God. Worship satisfies.

Satisfied with God’s word. It’s living. It’s sharp. It cuts to the heart. It kills our lame excuses. It opens our eyes. It leads us. It answers our questions. It keeps us on course. No other book is like the Bible. Satisfied with God’s word.

Space doesn’t allow me to continue with this thought, but you can. Satisfied with the church…satisfied with prayer…satisfied with Heaven…satisfied with what God wants from you.

They all ate and were satisfied. How about you? Some want to be satisfied with out the eating part. That won’t happen. There’s some chewing on God’s word that must be done. There is some praising in hymns that needs to be there. The chewing part comes first. The satisfaction part follows. Many complain without trying. Many want the satisfaction without the other steps.

 

When one is satisfied they don’t look elsewhere—that’s true in marriage, jobs and with the Lord. Satisfied…what a great experience that is!

 

Roger

 

22

Jump Start # 674

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 674

Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.”

Paul’s words here are very simple, yet very hard to do. I was talking with someone recently, and they felt as if their faith was stuck, going no where. This person hadn’t given up nor thrown in the towel. He was stagnate and felt as if his faith was not a real part of his life anymore. Many of us have been there. Life tends to be hills, with ups and downs, rather than flat stretches of road. It’s the valleys we go through that are tough. The valleys are often not hard times, because hard times tend to make us lean on our faith. The valleys can be those ordinary, every day, nothing special kind of days. Those are the days that are often lost in our memories. We remember exciting events. We’d like to forget the terrible days, but we don’t. It’s all those other days, the ordinary going to school days, going to work days, that often get us feeling stagnate.

I gave our verse today to this person I was talking with. As we parted, I really thought about this verse. The front part is the easiest. Set your mind on things above! That’s first, a choice. That’s deliberately thinking about Heaven, but more than golden streets and pearly gates, it’s thinking about Christ. Setting your mind on Christ—His rule, His position, His will, reminds us that we belong to Him. We live with a purpose and a plan—it’s Christ’s. Most of us get that. We may not do it as often as we should, but we get it.

 

The second part of this verse is what troubles us. Paul said to not set our minds “on things of the earth.” Christ thinking not earthly thinking. Yet we live here. There are things that require my mind, my attention and me. There are bills to pay, pets that need to go to the vet, a house that needs care, vacations to be planned, retirement to be saving for. We are of this world and can not go through it without some attention. I don’t think Paul was telling the early Christians to ignore leaky roofs, finding a job, taking care of sick kids—just keep thinking of Christ and Heaven. If not careful, that sounds like our concept of monks in long robes sitting around humming praises. Maybe that would be peaceful and that lifestyle appealing to some, but it’s not practical. I live in a house. I have kids. I have a job. How can I seek things above and not be drawn to those things?

 

Could it be that setting my mind on things above will activate my faith in the things here? Instead of living two separate lives, one spiritual and one physical, I am to live one life—a person of Christ. Setting my mind on things above will ease my fears and lessen my worries. Setting my mind on things above will put things in order and keep me from being vain, selfish and materialistic. Setting my mind on things above will lead me to a right attitude and make me become more thankful to God. Setting my mind on things above puts the most important right before my eyes.

Could it be that our faith seems to get stuck because we don’t see the need for it every day and everywhere? Could it be that we have not learn that the physical and spiritual  are connected and one will lead the other. How important it is for the spiritual to lead the physical. Decisions and choices need to be based upon the spiritual not the physical. The spiritual will get us through. The spiritual will make all the difference.

We should never flip off the spiritual switch. Everywhere we are, the spiritual matters. It will keep our tongues in check. It will help us with who we are. It will remind us of what we ought to be doing. It will pump air into our faith. Godliness is not a Sunday thing, it’s an everyday choice.

Set your mind on things above…It will make a difference.

Roger

 

 

 

21

Jump Start # 673

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 673

Acts 17:21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

Our verse today is an explanation put in by Luke to help us understand the people of Athens. Paul had gone to Athens with the message of the resurrected Christ. Every day Paul was teaching—either in the synagogue or in the market place. He found an audience and he had a message. The philosophers among them enjoyed debating ideas as if it were a sport. Verse 19 says that they brought Paul to the Areopagus so they could hear this “new teaching.” Verse 20 states the philosophers proclaiming, “you are bringing strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”

Our verse follows. Luke tells us that the philosophers spent their time doing nothing other than telling or hearing something new. In some ways I admire that they were not closed minded and refused to hear something because it is different. Some are like that. They don’t want to be challenged in their thinking and in many ways they have made their minds up so they refuse to consider any other thought. This trips many people because what they have chosen to accept and embrace is often not the truth but something that they are comfortable with and that they like. So when they are challenged with a Bible passage, they become defensive, angry and shut down any further discussion. There are many like that today. I have found it engaging to ask a person when they tell me that they go to a certain church, “Why?” “Why do you go there?” Many have never been asked that. Many don’t know other than it’s close to the house or it’s where mom and dad went.

However, there is also a danger in the free thinking of the philosophers. They liked to hear “new things.” Some are like that. They like to “rediscover” something that no one else has. They like to find a “new” twist, a “new” angle, a “new” truth. Like a bloodhound on a mission, they turn over every rock and look behind every bush to find something that no one else has. Our search for truth ought to be serious, yet, some in looking for the “new” find things that aren’t there. This is especially true of the parables. Jesus used parables as illustrations of Biblical truth and principles. The parables are found next to principles. The parables generally taught one specific truth. They are illustrations or stories. Not every cloud, not every bird, not every rock is intended to mean something. Those digging for the “new” will come up with theories and ideas that are more than the Lord intended. In doing this they often forget about the original audience, what these things would have meant to them and they add layer upon layer of ideas that are simply not there. They build a faith upon “the new” instead of the old, old story. It’s the “new” that excites them. They spend their time chasing the “new”. They pride themselves in having found something that so few others have. If not careful, chasing the new will plunge them deep into error. Our message is an old message. We may find things that are “new” to us, but to find something that no one else has ever seen, be careful! Many smart people have walked before our times and the search for new can be an old, old trick of Satan.

There is yet a third lesson I see from our verse about these philosophers. Luke explains to us that they “spent their time in nothing” other than talk. They liked to hear and tell new things. They liked to debate and argue ideas. Their world was a “think-tank.” Some are like that today. Not that they are deep thinkers, but they are long on talk and short on doing. They always seem to know what is wrong but haven’t a clue, much less, the ambition to try to fix things. They love to tell what others ought to do but somehow find a way not to do much themselves. More need to be visited they proclaim, but they don’t visit. More evangelism, but they don’t evangelize. More hospitality, but they don’t open up their home. Home classes, but they don’t come when they are offered. Nothing but talk. Some seem to move their faith that way. A lot of talk and not much action.

Later in this chapter, as Paul teaches about the resurrection, some of these “new thinkers” sneered him and rejected him. So much for new things. Some who claim they like new things do not if it involves them doing something.

Interesting people and interesting thoughts here. Do you see yourself here? Do you need to think about these things and see where you are with what God says?

Roger

 

20

Jump Start # 672

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

 

Jump Start # 672

Ps 90:2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Psalms 90 is one of the oldest Psalms. It was written by Moses and gives us the great expression, “teach us to number our days.” The Psalms are very poetic. They give life and expression to things that we often don’t think about. In other places, the Psalms talk about the trees singing and the sun giving praise to God. Our verse today, talks about mountains being born. We typically would say, “before the mountains were made.” Giving birth to mountains brings God into the picture. Secular thinking would say that nature shaped the mountains without any planning, thought or influence. The Psalmist knew. God gave birth to the mountains.

Our verse is identifying the eternity of God. That’s just hard for us to get. Our children will ask about that in Bible classes and we have good answers for them, but it’s just hard to understand, even for us. We are surrounded with beginnings and endings. We have birthdays, anniversaries of special events and deaths. It’s all around us. Before too long, our flowers that we planted this spring, will die. Our pets die. We die. But God doesn’t. He has always been.

 

It’s hard for me to imagine that my great great grandfather talked to the same God that I talk to. His world was so different than mine. He wouldn’t understand how I can type these words and in a few minutes send them out worldwide. His worries were different than mine. Yet he had the same word of God that I do and he loved the same God that I do and God wanted him to do the same as He wants me to do. That’s hard to grasp for me. Then we stretch that thought even more and realize that Timothy and Titus talked to the same God I talk to. They loved the same God that I love. God wanted the same from them as He does from me. Stretch that thought even more, and Adam walked in the Garden and talked with the same God that I talk to. Incredible.

Not only is God everlasting, He remains the same. He doesn’t change. Some have thought that the God of the O.T. is harsh and demanding and the God of the N.T. is kinder and softer. The way some present it, it is as if God mellowed as He got older. Wrong. First, God doesn’t age. Secondly, God is the same. You find love and compassion in the O.T. as well as the N.T. and you find God striking disobedience in the N.T. as you do the O.T.

The wonderful thing about God never changing is that God is always the same. He isn’t moody like we can be. Catch some people on a bad day and look out! God’s not like that. God doesn’t peak and then see the best years have gone by. Not God. We do that, but He doesn’t. He is just as powerful today as when He opened the earth, made the sun stand still or parted the Sea. Because God never changes, He never changes His mind. That gives us hope and confidence. Things around here change. Our tax laws change. Our weather changes. People change. God doesn’t. He doesn’t say something and then later changes His mind. That would be tough to deal with. He is not like that.

Because God is everlasting, He has a history with mankind. That history is the Bible. We look and see that God is good. We understand that He wants the best for us and from us. We see how He loves us so.

There is a part of us that is everlasting as well  -our souls. They have not been around as forever as God has, but our souls will outlast our bodies. Our souls will live on after we have completed the journey here. Paul talked about that in Corinthians when he said the outer man decays and inner man is being renewed. Our bodies and souls are going different directions. Our souls are getting stronger and better and our bodies are getting weaker and weaker. Someday they will part. The body will be finished. The soul will continue.

 

This is why we ought to put more emphasis upon the spiritual than the physical. How we look spiritually is far more important than how we look physically. What we do for the body is not nearly as important as what we do for our souls.

 

There is a hymn that says, “I’ll live on and on…” That’s good to know. That’s hope.

 

Our everlasting God—amazing! Our everlasting God– worthy of praise!

Roger