GRINDIT podcast

Jesus and his disciples have finished the Passover meal and are headed to the Garden of Gethsemane so he can pray about what is to come. On the way there, he tells the disciples they will all deny him and Peter makes the infamous statement, "I will die with you and will never deny you!" and Jesus tells him, "You'll deny me three times before the rooster crows." When they get tto the garden, Jesus asks them to watch and pray but they fall asleep...three times. I know we all want to believe we would never deny Jesus but would we? Do we? When we are faced with persecution, would we be able to stick with Jesus? Peter and the rest of the disciples did not! They all denied him just as Jesus had said.

Jesus is having his last Passover meal with his disciples. He will be dead in a few days and it will totally blow their minds. Despite having told them many times, they just never got it, they didn't understand. While he is in the home of a Pharisee, a woman comes in and pours oil on his body and some of the disciples are indignant. They couldn't believe this woman had wasted so much money on this oil and the should have spent the money on the poor. Yet, before the night is over, one of them will betray Jesus in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. The time has come...

The sermon I preached at Authentic Church from our Revelation series. I was assigned Revelation 16-18 so I brought out several points from those three chapters: 1. Be ready. 2. Where is your treasure? 3. Don't underestimate the power of the enemy. 4. If you're angry at God, it is OK...just don't give up on Him. 5. God sends out an invitation for us all to come out of sin and be with Him.

As we see wars going on today, as we hear of earthquakes and crazy weather patterns, people point to the return of Jesus Christ. In Mark 13, the disciples are in awe of the Temple and the beautiful buildings but Jesus blows their minds when he tells them, "This building will soon be destroyed and not one stone will be on top of another." What's crazy is, the smallest stone that was used to build the Temple weighed at least 2 tons! These stones were ginormous!!! Jesus gives the disciples some signs to watch for as to when all of this will take place, then he shifts to his coming. Are you ready?

The religious leaders thought they were bold and courageous but as we see Jesus march into Jerusalem and expose them for who they really are, cowards, the one who is actually bold and courageous shows out, Jesus. He has went to the Temple, cleansed it out by overturning the money tables and driving the people out that was selling the animals for sacrifices for profit, and now he tells a story about an owner of a vineyard who sent servants in to gather some of the crops and money but the hired tenants killed them, including the owner’s son! Jesus was talking about them and they knew it and they wanted to kill him but they feared the crowd. Jesus challenges the Pharisees and the Sadducees in chapter 12, then uses a widow lady that threw 2 coins in the offering plate to show what the heart of God really looks like!

Jesus goes into Jerusalem with no fear and faces his enemies, the religious leaders, head on. He cleanses the Temple from their greediness, and they want to know where he is getting his authority from. Jesus asks them a question and they don’t answer it and therefore, Jesus doesn’t give them an answer to their question. Mark points out that Jesus came to the Temple and observed what was happening. Again, nothing gets past God, He sees everything and knows everything. God was walking around in His Temple and the religious leaders had no idea yet God knew everything they were doing and he would come in to clean house! There’s a day of reckoning coming and we better be ready!

Jesus enters Jerusalem riding a donkey. Why did he choose a donkey and not a horse? Kings who were coming ready for war rode a horse. Kings who were coming in peace rode a donkey. Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace” and he has been peaceful since the beginning. However, after entering Jerusalem, he goes to the Temple and isn’t so peaceful as he wreaks havoc on those selling animals to make sacrifices. He overturns their money tables and releases the animals while scolding the religious leaders because of their hard hearts. On the way to the Temple he had cursed a fig tree and it withered from the roots of. It’s a picture of the state of Jerusalem who has rejected the very Messiah that has come to deliver them.

Are you mad at God? Have you ever been mad at God? If so, how do you handle it? How did you handle it? We cover this topic in this podcast to help you find some encouragement to keep the faith and not be discouraged!

Phone rings...man answers, "Jesus' catering service. What can I do for you?" Isn't this how we treat God? Blind Bartimaeus was calling out to Jesus for help and the crowd was trying to silence him, telling him to shut up! The more they tried to get him to quiet down, the louder he got! And it worked! He got his healing right there in front of those who tried to silence him. Don't let the enemy steal your voice...Speak up! Yell! Do whatever you have to in order to get Jesus' attention! Also in this podcast we discuss the disciples' reaction to Jesus telling them, yet again, he was going to die and soon. They responded by James and John asking him if they could sit in the places of honor and authority. Oof...they just don't get it! Do you?

The rich young ruler comes running up to Jesus in excitement, kneels down before him, and asks what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus begins to tell him and he interrupts to let Jesus know he had been doing all of that stuff his whole life. He's a sure in for heaven...right?!?! Not so much...Mark says Jesus loved the guy and he says to him, "Go sell your stuff, give all the money to the poor, then come and follow me." The guy's countenance changed immediately and he was heartbroken. He had a lot of stuff and he loved it too much. He couldn't let go of his possessions so he walks away from Jesus sad. What is worth hanging on to that would keep us out of heaven?

Mark 10 is all about the heart! How fitting since we are close to Valentine's Day. The Pharisees are wanting to test Jesus so the interrupt his teaching to ask a question about divorce. They don't car what he really thinks about it...they just want to know if his doctrine lines up with theirs hoping they can trap him and prove he is not the Messiah. Once again, they are put in their place publicly and Jesus goes on about his business.

Jesus told the disciples he was going to be betrayed, die, and come back to life but the disciples were more concerned with who is the greatest among them. Jesus takes this opportunity to teach them about humility and being a servant. He takes a small child and puts the child on his lap and tells his disciples, be like this child and serve others. It's so easy to turn inward and be selfish, to gratify and satisfy the flesh, which is sin. Jesus takes that same child to show the dangers of our sin and causing others to sin. Then he tells them to be salt and add some flavor in the world.

Some of the disciples were trying to cast a demon out of a little boy but couldn’t get the job done. Jesus comes down the mountain and hears some arguing and wants to know what is going on. After hearing the explanation, he says, “You faithless generation, how long do I have to put up with you?” Who is he talking to? The dad? The kid? The religious leaders? The crowd? Or his disciples? So many times, when we pray for someone to be healed and nothing happens, we blame the recipient and say something like, “They don’t have enough faith.” But is this true? Is the recipient the one to blame? The answer may surprise you because Jesus is actually blaming the disciples here, the givers! They have a lack of faith which is crazy because they have seen miracles and performed them as well!

Have you ever been so caught up in something and it has your full attention and yet, you hear a weird noise or someone says something, and bam…the mood is gone. They have killed the moment and it has passed. That’s what happens when Peter, James, and John are watching Jesus being transformed right before their very eyes. He begins to glow a brilliant white and has a conversation with Elijah and Moses! What an awesome moment up until Peter opens his mouth and ruins the moment. A cloud overshadows them and God speaks to them from heaven. As they come down the mountain, Jesus tells them not to say word about what they saw until after he was raised from the dead. After seeing Elijah and Moses talking to Jesus, they get hung up on what Jesus said about raising from the dead. They couldn’t see the forest from the trees! What are some things God wants us to see yet we get hung up on the most trivial stuff?

Jesus does something he hasn't done up until this point: He heals the same man twice. He touches his eyes and the man sees trees; Jesus touches him again and he sees clearly. Why did Jesus do this healing this way? Did he fail the first time? Did he make a mistake? Absolutely not! He is teaching his disciples a lesson. These guys have seen him do many miracles including raising a dead girl back to life and yet they don't get it, they don't understand. It's as if they see trees but Jesus knows that in time, they will get it and they will see clearly which is why he asks them right after this, "Who do you say that I am?" What about you? Do you see trees? Or do you get it? Do you understand that Jesus wants you to be a part of his kingdom and he wants to work through you.

Jesus has fed a crowd of over 5,000 with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The disciples helped with this miracle, they were a part of it when they hd 12 basketfuls remaining yet, in a very short time, they forget what Jesus had done. They are asked by Jesus to feed another huge crowd, mostly Gentiles, and they freak out. They had forgotten what Jesus was capable of doing. After this event, some Pharisees show up and want Jesus to perform a miracle but he refused to do so and as he is traveling in a boat with his disciples he tells them, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees." They think he is scolding them for not having any bread. As they blame one another for not bringing any bread, Jesus does scold them for having eyes to see and ears to hear yet they don't understand. Do you "get it"?

A Gentile woman hears that Jesus is in town and she rushes to find him. When she does, she prostrates herself before him and asks him to cast a demon out of her little girl. Jesus calls her a dog and tells her he came for the Jews. This woman would not take no for an answer and her reply floors Jesus...in so much he heals her daughter. She shows us a great lesson in moving the heart of God--humility.

Traditions...something the Pharisees had major problems with. They had studied God's law, interpreted God's law, and made their interpretations more binding than God's law! They had become traditions over the years and they were teaching them to the people in the synagogue instead of teaching the people about God and His law. Jesus gets to the "heart" of the mater...the Pharisee's hearts. They looked like they loved God, sounded like they loved God, but Jesus quotes Isaiah and says their hearts are far from God. Don't let your worship become tradition. Keep your heart in it and seeking after God!

Jesus feeds the 5,00, more like 10,000 including women and children, with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. He had questioned his disciples on how they were going to feed this big crowd before he performed this miracle because he wanted to teach them a lesson: God will not only provide for your immediate needs, He will provide for your future needs as well but they didn't seem to get the message because Jesus sends them away in a boat so he could go be alone with the Father. As they were rowing their boat, a strong wind hinders their progress and they are getting tired and frustrated. Jesus was watching them from the shore and one of their struggle but he didn't immediately come to their rescue! Once he did by walking on water, he got into the boat and the wind ceased immediately. Mark says the disciples' hearts hardened. In other words, they were aggravated with Jesus because they thought he didn't care. Where was he? Why did he let us struggle like this? It's the same questions you and I ask when storms come in our lives. Don't get sidetracked...stay the course and keep the faith. Jesus will show up!

John the Baptizer loses his head because Herodias wanted to show how powerful she is! Herod put John in prison hoping to appease his wife but it wasn't good enough for her. She was working behind the scenes, scheming, and manipulating to get her way not caring who she used or affected, including her own daughter. While he wa sin prison, John doubted Jesus and sent his disciples to ask for some reassurance. Jesus sent a message back to John and basically said, "I am who I am and you can die in peace." Jesus could have rescued John but he didn't and we have to realize that suffering is a part of life, but we can trust that God is with us through it all.