27th April 2010

Mark 9:42-50 – Hell

• As much as I would like to – I cannot believe Hell is about non-existence.
• God create our souls for eternity… one way or another.
• Jesus it seems thinks about Hell in the same way as the Tanakh speaks of it. He brings revelation about the Kingdom of Heaven but little new about the existence of Hell.
• Gehenna [the valley of Hinnom was a word used in Matthew 5. A real place south of Jerusalem used to depict Hell. A perpetually burning rubbish dump that never went out.
• See Isaiah 66:24
• Deuteronomy 32:22
• 2 Samuel 22:6
• Psalm 18:5
• Psalm 116:3
• Psalm 9:17
• Job 26:6
• Hell was very much a Old Testament Jewish belief that Jesus believed in.
• If that’s true… 

27th April 2010

Mark 9:33-38 – The Greatest and the For You statements of Jesus

• These two stories are connected. One is a manifestation of the other,
• In the first an underlying attitude of the disciples is revealed; they are jockeying for position.
• They are asking the question; Who will be the greatest in this new Kingdom that our leader will inevitably bring about when He other throws the Romans?
• Jesus reveals their heart to them. And tells them they need instead to become each other’s servants.
• This pride however in their hearts leads them to other sins of control and insecurity. Someone else is successfully serving Jesus but they rebuke him because he is not one of them.
• Its one of the biggest challenges of western Christian leadership!
• So many of us are more concerned about our position than the Kingdom being advanced and the horrendous crime is being committed on a daily basis where Christian leaders stop other advancing God’s Kingdom because it does not suit their personal situation and jockeying for position.
• Am I like that?

26th April 2010

Mark 9:14-32 – The Healing of a Demon Possessed Boy

• Very simple thought: Jesus in other manuscripts says pray and fasting
• Yet He does not go away and pray and fast especially.
• Was it that He had a lifestyle where He was constantly praying and fasting and so when the need/opportunity came, He was able to react at the right time?
• That’s important for me. I could go away and pray & fast but then the opportunity to demonstrate the Kingdom of God has gone.
• I remember Wigglesworth’s words: I rarely pray for longer than 15 minutes but then rarely does 15 minutes go by without me praying.
• Something to think/pray about.

26th April 2010

Mark 9:1-13 – The Transfiguration – Coming Kingdom

• Jesus’ words "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power." are also mentioned in the other gospels.
• One interpretation is that the coming with power refers to after the resurrection.
• 1 Tim 3:16 -  He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit
• Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man – there are two sets of sayings about the son of man in the Gospels: In one the Son of Man is humiliated & suffers in the other sets the Son of Man is vindicated and glorified.
• His vindication is sometimes described visually [functionally] as sitting at the right hand of God. Which is a functional way of saying a place of power.
• So before His judges, about to be crucified Jesus says; from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.
• So basically Jesus’ saying seems to allude to His resurrection and coming in power.
• Before that the first set of sayings apply – after that the second set apply; His power is greater and so are the miracles plus His movement suddenly picks up huge momentum and the world has never been the same since.
• It is so powerful that the gates of Hades cannot stop it.
• Jesus persevered through so much because He knew they was a coming vindication.
• Christianity is not simply about believing in Jesus; it is about believing in the things Jesus believed in.

23rd April 2010

Mark 8:31-38 – Jesus rebukes Peter

• Peter is a believer in Jesus.
• At least he believes Jesus is the Messiah.
• This shows me that we can be a believer and yet have in mind not the things of God but of Man.
• Peter still believes that Jesus will be this political/military messiah. This might give Peter a high position in the coming Kingdom.
• But then Jesus brings that idea crashing down.
• The Satan [title not a name] is like a prosecutor at a court who loves to see people found guilty and punished. So much so that there are not enough people to prosecute to satisfy him and so he goes looking for those he can tempt so that he can then prosecute.
• He is not primarily the tempter but the accuser. Temptation is what he does because his desperation to accuse is so strong.
• Accusation is his heroin, he is a slave to it. It binds him.
• He is the biggest slave to sin of all. There will never be satisfaction for him.
• It has always been his way - 1 Chronicles 28:1
• I need to understand the devil's schemes - his primary task is not to tempt me but to taunt me.

15th April 2010

Mark 8:1-22-26 – The Healing of a Blind Man at Bethsaida

• Still can’t get past the whole spitting thing.
• Why would Jesus do this again when it was something that the local ‘magicians’ would do and the rabbi’s warned against?
• One commentary says Jesus was reminding people of the fact that we all came from the earth – So it was kind of an object lesson.
• Jesus leads the blind man out of the village in order to do this thing privately.
• Bethsaida was in the orthodox triangle and as soon as many people would find out about this they would try to make Him the kind of king they wanted to overthrow the Romans.
• But Jesus again refused to be used in that way. But he also does not therefore ignore the need of the blind man.
• Jesus goes out of His way – I must learn to sometimes do the same.

15th April 2010

Mark 8:1-21 – Jesus feeds the four thousand and the Pharisees ask for a sign

• Signs do not compel belief.
• Plus it’s not always belief that is the issue.
• I know that because I backslid after knowing God had healed me plus I know many friends who went away from God after seeing the miraculous.
• Jesus it seems to me would not extend a pseudo-conversation about faith when He knew that the point being discussed was not really the point at all. He always instead got the discourse back onto the real issues.
• So much of these last few stories about Jesus in one form or another highlight His concern about priorities. I need to pray that I prioritize the way He does!

14th April 2010

Mark 6:31-37 – The Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man

• So not totally sure what to make of this.
• Jesus uses spit to heal a man. Yet saliva in healing was seen by many rabbi’s as connecting with magic and therefore forbidden by some.
• “He who whispers [an incantation] over a wound… and spits on it has no portion in the world to come” [the Kingdom of Heaven].
• It was a popular healing method of His time and yet would possibly hjave been seen as some to connect him with magic.
• I wonder why He used spit then?
• I wonder if it was something to do with where he was. In the Decapolis. He uses an Arabic word in His prayer which is especially highlighted by Mark.
• Just wonder if the way He did this was in some way trying to help His audience relate to what He was doing. No idea really – need to look into that more.
• For now need to pray for more of Jesus power in my life!
• pg 14 TAGOJ

13th April 2010

Mark 6:24-30 – The Faith of a Syrophoenician Woman

• Jesus calls a woman a dog. And people think I’m inappropriate!
• Firstly he tries to sneak into a house without anybody seeing him so that He does not have to heal anyone.
• There are a couple of things going on here:
• Firstly again after yesterdays reading, the Gospel goes on to highlight Jesus’ commitment to the right priorities. He is avoiding getting drawn into healing lots of gentiles because He knows He will get distracted from His calling – to the Jews. So He firstly sneaks into the house, then avoids immediately answering the woman, they argues with His disciples who tell Him to send her away and then finally heals her daughter from a distance. All these things point to Jesus trying not to attract the inevitable huge crowd of gentiles who will come based on the testimony of this feisty woman should she get Jesus’ immediate attention.
• Secondly; could it be that Jesus was leading her in the conversation? As a Rabbi, He rarely gave a straight answer to anything. But instead wanted to make sure people understood the principles of the Kingdom before they got their answer. So;
• Note that he does not send her away as the disciples suggest [see Matthew], so although he refuses to answer her, he obviously has a plan.
• In everywhere else in the Bible the Jews refer to the gentiles as wild dogs. In only this story however; is there a difference in the type of dog – the Greek word [to a Greek woman] refers to a house dog – perhaps even a kind of lap dog; think Paris Hilton [her pet not the woman herself].
• Rather than simply refusing her request – He asks her a leading question; she immediately gets His point and then answers with an understanding of His principle. The principle I believe He was trying to lead her to.
• Faith is understanding acted out!
• I need to pray that I understand quickly in order that I can get a quicker response from Jesus!
• HSOTB Mark & Matthew.

12th April 2010

Mark 6:1-22 – Clean and Unclean

• The Pharisees take issue with the fact that Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands before eating. According to their rules this made the disciples hands unclean & therefore they were unclean.
• Jesus opens both canons: first He quotes from Isaiah – saying the Pharisees are the people he prophesied about who would honor God with their lips but not their hearts. It is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean but what comes out of him.
• Later on in this section Jesus declares all food ‘clean’. This is odd.
• Because later, His disciples still choose to bind the new gentile believers with the food laws: why?
• Because this meant that the new gentile believers could sit down with the Jewish believers and have fellowship together. Something that would be key to demonstrate Heaven on earth.
• Because also – the bigger principle is – that we should refuse to take up our individual rights where it limits our human responsibility. The principle that the early church leaders are working to is not the traditions of men but the heart of God; they realize that although the world may take care of people through a system of human responsibilities, in God’s Kingdom we take care of people through Human responsibility.
• Before Jesus does this He accuses the Pharisees of using their religion to avoid God’s commandments.
• He tells them they have a ‘fine way’ of setting aside the command of God. Where God says honor your father and mother they have used a super-spiritual pseudo-dedication to get out of it. Rather than taking care of their parents in old age as they should with their finances; they found a different way through religion to keep it to themselves.
• The Jews were famous for making rash vows. They would dedicate their money to God and to do this they had to utter the word “Corban” – once they had dedicated this money they said they were no longer free to give it away.
• I have seen this done a lot. Men have taken issue on small things and I’ve been made to feel that in some way I am not being clean but often it is just the religion of men. Men who can sometimes then go and ignore huge chunks of God’s command. In fact sometimes these small things are in direct opposition to the big things of God – as in the case of Corban
• I need to pray that I do not create religion in order to avoid God’s commands – a trap we can all be guilty of.
• pg 1639 - NIVASB

9th April 2010

Mark 6:45-56 – Jesus walks on water

• “Jesus made His disciples get into the boat….”
• As gentle as we like to make Jesus – He often forces us to do things. That is only of course if we profess to be His disciples. If we tell  Him that He will take us at our word – even if we forget our word a few months later.
• The lake was seen as the abyss by the Jews – they were really a nomadic people and were generally uncomfortable on water. They believe that it was a place of evil spirits and would virtually never go to the central area of a lake preferring to travel around its edge even if it took longer to get somewhere. Jesus makes them get in and then row against the heavy wind towards the center of the lake.
• Even in Gennesaret a pagan part of the area – Jesus was recognized for who He was. Many wanted to touch the tassels on His cloak because of the prophecies in Ezekiel.
• God exalts the humble and humbles the exalted – need to pray I keep my word.

8th April 2010

Mark 6:30-43 – Jesus feeds the five thousand

• First thing I notice is Jesus’ call to His disciples to come away and rest with Him. That encourages me about the Talmidim Academy.
• As Jesus plans to rest others pursue Him – He never seems to turn away anyone who pursues Him.
• Why is green grass mentioned? The Bible rarely allows itself purely descriptive words. I’m guessing to let us know it was late winter early spring. Every word has a function. The Bible is so intentional. I need to pray that I am as intentional about all my words.
• I still think one of the greatest things about this passage is the remez that Jeus later refers to about the number of baskets full at the end.
• Found out that because bread was seen a especially characterizing things of God is should never be allowed to go to waste. So as part of peoples attire they would carry little wicker baskets. So the twelve baskets were likely to be the twelve wicker baskets of the disciples.
• Praying for intentionality of my words today.

7th April 2010

Mark 6:14-29

• John the Baptist beheaded
• I got stuck pondering the first. It seems that the King of the land heard about Jesus’ not through His actions but those of the young men He sent out and empowered.
• Just thinking about how much time we can spend trying to get just a little sharper in our own particular gifts or abilities and yet real impact for God comes through those we sharpen.
• Also missed a lesson from the previous passage; they anointed people with oil. My studies tell me that this oil was literally seen as a medicine. So a miracle comes when we do our bit. When they healed with medicine, God did a miracle.
• Need to pray today about doing my part in people’s lives so that God can then do a miracle.
• Also realized today that I need to sell 250 books a month to make up my salary from May onwards. Need to pray for that as well.

6th April 2010

Eccl 3:11 - “He has set Eternity within the hearts of men” NIV

• Based today’s livewire on this verse.
• We cannot grasp the fullness of heaven with our minds.
• How can an infinite reality be understood by a finite brain?
• So God has put eternity into our hearts.
• Our present reality affects how we think about our future one; but to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, we need instead for our future reality to affect how we think about our present one. We have to  be led by our heart in this matter.
• What does that look like?
• Is the God-shaped hole illustration a misdirection?

5th April 2010

Mark 6: 6-13

• Jesus sends out the twelve.
• There is a conflict in the Bible here. Mark says take a staff whilst Luke and Matthew tell us Jesus told them not to take a staff. The same problem with sandals. There are a few possible reasons for this but basically it comes down to the fact that the gospel writers were transmitting to early church missionaries the need to travel light. The traditional story they passed on differed probably because it was not the exact words of Jesus but as in many cases to gist of what Jesus said. Its possible He sent His twelve out on different occasions with slightly different instructions each time… who knows.
• Reminds me that there are things in the Bible that don’t add up. When they are as obvious as this it kind of encourages me that there were not a bunch of early church writers getting together to make sure they were all on the same page and bending their recollections to fit each other. The Gospels are inspired by God but the Gospel writers are human. They were getting across what they believed God was wanting them to pass on.
• “Jesus normally speaks in the hyperbole of a wisdom teacher not the legal precision of a teacher” – p424 HSOTB.
• Challenges me: do I want easy answers or to wrestle with the scriptures?
• The whole passage again points to Jesus’ method of mission – Spread, Spot, Stay, Send. I need to keep faithfully teach this and also to model it!
• Essentially Jesus is telling them to travel light. Most books say this was so they had to trust in God. I think that’s kind of true but misses the point. Specifically they had to trust in the people God sent them to.
• It’s harder to trust in people than God.
• So in some ways that was a bigger challenge.
• For me to be effective; I must learn to trust in God’s people. Its the only way I can show I trust Jesus.
• Praying for that today!

1st April 2010

Mark 6: 1-6

• Prophet with no honor
• The people take offense at Jesus so He can only heal a few people.
• Is offense given or is it taken?
• Can you give offence if it is not taken?
• Can you take offence if none is given?
• Is it an offence to be offensive?
• Could it be that the greater the faith you have the less offense you need to take?
• Why is it that it’s the ones who take offense rather the ones who give it that always seem to miss out?

My first blogging mistake

So I meant the name of my blog to me 'The Missionary Maker' referring to the actual blog not me. Like The Daily Telegraph or another newspaper name. Then I put my photo on and created the wong impression.


Anyway - I've now changed the name and put up a picture of some young people The Pais Project are reaching in Ghana.


There are some of the recent updates from the team in Accra if you go to their Facebook page.


Looks like you want this blog to be 'inspiration' - well take a look at their videos & photos to see young missionaries in action.

Why Should I Blog?

I Facebook and I Twitter.

So is there any reason that I should blog as well?

Perhaps you could leave your thoughts but definitely fill in the poll above.

I'm thinking of blogging sections of my books called mini-chapters - usually a couple of hundred words.

Good idea?

Bad idea?

Thanks!