Author: missionspaul

Fig trees and mountains need faith and forgiveness.

Mark 11: 20-25 “In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. ²¹ Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” ²² “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. ²³ “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Withering fig trees and moving mountains are possible through faith and forgiveness.

Today the Church will again work with people’s need for salvation and demonstrate the dangers of rejecting Jesus (the withered fig tree).

Today the Church will work with people with insurmountable problems in their lives (moving mountains).

Both are needed, one carries a future threat and the other a present possibility. If you only focus on the fig tree curse then Church becomes heavy in its talk of judgment and threat of eternity. If you only focus on moving mountains then the Church becomes a social action group.

Both operate through prayer, an alignment with God where not only requests are made but you hear what He is wanting to do.

The success of the Church is dependent on faith and forgiveness.

Simply put: Do you believe God can and will? Do you have unforgiveness in your heart?

Perhaps right now you can answer those 2 questions in case you meet a fig tree or a mountain.

 

 

DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO EXIT?

Mark 11: 19 “When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.”

When the sun came down the Son went out.

At the end of every day Jesus would return to Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ home in Bethany to rest before returning to the city the next day. It was a 2 mile walk and so very close and easily done.

Jerusalem was his mission but Bethany his home.

A prolific church planter within Islamic nations said to me that the most important thing to note when entering difficult situations is the exit route.

Jesus didn’t wait till the evening and then ask “where shall we stay tonight?” He had already planned the exit.

The problem I see is that to enter is easy but EXIT TAKES WISDOM. Everyone knows how to start but knowing when to stop is only held by a few.

Carrying on relentlessly is not faithfulness when you have missed the exit sign years ago.

The EXIT PRESERVES THE MISSION because it gives time for rest, reflection and a reality check on the day’s activity. People who have no time for appraisals are in danger of making mistakes.

The disciples were learning to follow Jesus into and out of situations. The call of God can be as much to do something as to stop something. What do you need to stop doing right now? To EXIT CAN BE TO OBEY as much as to enter.

 

The Temple crash

Mark 11: 15-18

 “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, ¹⁶ and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. ¹⁷ And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’^]? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.”

 

Jesus knew what to do, he had been there the evening before. He had seen the state of the Temple.

His anger was because of the exploitation of the poor and all done inside the place of prayer.

There were crowds continually arriving into Jerusalem from many parts of the world and as today they need their currency exchanging. The main money exchange seems to be at the Temple, it was convenient there as they would then go and buy animals in order to bring sacrificial worship. Jesus said they had turned the house of prayer for all nations into a den of robbers meaning that there was exploitation taking place, the Temple were benefiting hugely on the back of people’s needs.

And who were they exploiting the most? Well, it was as it is today, the poor.

Jesus overturned the tables of those selling doves. Leviticus 5: 7 “Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for their sin—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.”

Jesus’ concern isn’t for the rich, for those who can afford say a lamb sacrifice, it is for those who cannot afford anything more than a dove. These exploited people are in his heart. It still is today.

Jesus caused a Black Wednesday or whatever day it was. It was an economic meltdown on Wall Street which affected nations.

Maybe He will do it again.

But pause again. You see, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We are called for prayer. Have we exchanged that? Do we pray? How long for? Does it occupy the main purpose of our life? What about how we treat others? Look behind, is anyone hurting because of the way you have treated them, unkind words, neglect of love or using and abusing them? Maybe our temples need cleansing today. Maybe we need to be hurt by Jesus coming and causing a meltdown, upsetting our whole life because we have become not what we were created for. Let Him have His way today.

The fig tree is cursed.

Mark 11: 12-14

“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.¹³ Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.”

First the fruit then the leaves, that is the order for the fig tree. So the fig tree has leaves so there must be fruit. Yet this isn’t the season for fruit but that doesn’t stop Jesus looking for it because he is hungry. When he looks at the tree he finds no figs so he curses the tree. His voice is loud enough for the disciples to hear him. It would indicate he wanted them to pay attention to this, it wasn’t that he was shouting, but he was purposely drawing them into this scene giving them a thought that they were overhearing or listening in to a private conversation. Which of course they weren’t but Jesus just wanted them to hear the importance of this.

This isn’t only a lesson in lost potential it is more than that. This isn’t only a lesson in the wrongs of arrogance, it is again more than that.

It is the arrogance of displaying you have what you don’t have at a time when no one is expecting you to have it in the first place!

Confused?

The fig tree is the generation of Israel expecting the Messiah.

It is the Temple of worship built to honour the glory of God, which Jesus has just entered and found it as a den of robbers and on that day would turn the Temple into disarray.

The fig tree had no fruit because it was not the season, all that was left on the tree were the leaves.

God has punished and exiled Israel because of its waywardness and rejection of Him throughout its history, in the time when it was not the season for the Messiah. If Jesus curses the fig tree out of season what does that indicate would happen to Israel if it is in season but is not fruitful? When the Messiah is here and it is the season and there is no fruit how much more will the curse be?

This is the season now. Jesus is here. He has been in the Temple which is heralding the One to come and He is here. Now is the time for salvation. So what now if there is no response? If there is no fruit?

Will Jesus bring a bigger curse to Israel?

We know what happens.

Jesus becomes the curse.

A life of adjustment and alignment

Mark 11:11 “Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.”

Jesus rode into Jerusalem with crowds of people shouting their praise and their expectations of victory, this was a new day they believed, this was the expected Messiah who would take hold of the government of the city and of Israel. The day came and was over very quickly and Jesus hadn’t done what they had expected.

Jesus headed straight to the temple and walked around looking at everything. It was late in the day and the market was over but probably the benches and tables were still there, maybe traders were tidying up after a long day buying and selling, certainly there was evidence of the state that the Temple had got into and what he would forcefully correct. But the day came and was over quickly and Jesus hadn’t done what perhaps the disciples had expected.

Have you experienced a move of God in your life and thought this is it, this will change everything and all the many items on your list would be completed, healed, provided for and Jesus would do it all?

God can move upon your life and not do what you expect He would do. This is not because He can’t do those things. It is because He has another agenda for your life. It is us who have to align our lives with Him not the other way round. Those who have unfulfilled expectations can often move bitterly into the place of questioning whether it was a move of God at all (which is seen in the crowd’s response only a few days later). It is hard to accept one’s expectations were wrong.

Perhaps there has been a move of God in your life and you are yet to recognise it. You have carried on as normal. He is walking around and looking at your life, observing, taking it all in. He is the one who walks amongst the seven churches of Revelation and sees what we don’t want Him to see. But nothing happens. So we carry on prayer-less, worship-less, disciple-less and continue on the cheap trying to earn, gain and achieve with such ambitious arrogance. But this could be the day of mercy for us for God is slow to anger. Yet the day is late and mercy is drawing to a close.

Jesus wasn’t fitting into anyone’s schedule and He still doesn’t. He works according to the perfect.

So we continue to adjust our expectations resisting disappointment and we continue to align our lives under Him thankful for His mercy.

Just a few questions on mission, provision and submission

Mark 11: 1-6 “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ² saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.³ If anyone asks you, “Why are you doing this?” say, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.”’ ⁴ They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵ some people standing there asked, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’ ⁶ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.”

 

What mission have you been sent on which is solely to do with provision for a future event?

• Today is not about results but about provision for the results of tomorrow.
• The success of mission is to bring back what you were sent to get.

What is outside your door that is needed by the Lord more than you need it?

• If Jesus is Lord then He owns everything you have, you have no rights to your possessions.
• If you want God to use you then perhaps you should start by saying ‘God use all I have.’

What do others have that the Lord wants you to be boldly obedient to go and take?

• Jesus never wanted a worn out old donkey, so find the best because that’s what he wants.
• Radical obedience can sometimes at first glance break what would be the norm, (taking without asking).

 

 

Destiny

Mark 11: 1 “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples.”

On your approach to your destiny you will come through many seasons and experiences.

Through Bethphage whose name means ‘House of unripe figs’ where Jesus caused a fig tree with no fruit to wither. A fig tree has fruit developing before the leaves so if you saw a fig tree with leaves you would be expecting fruit.

Through Bethany where the tomb of Lazarus is and where Jesus wept.

On the Mount of Olives where since 3 B.C. it has served as the main burial grounds of the city.

Jesus was always heading to Jerusalem. It is where we celebrate the centre of our faith, his death and resurrection.

Even today you may experience:

1. Unfulfilled potential, people who are experiencing a death of their marriage, of their work, of who they could have been and who talked the talk but on a closer scrutiny didn’t live up to that talk. But we are not called to this death. Bethphage is not our destiny.
2. Personal grief, when death comes to your own home or that of your close friends, when you lose forever what was so precious, even though you know you will see them again, even though you know there is a resurrection to come, you weep, your heart is broken. But we are not called to remain here. Bethany is not our destiny.
3. The obvious. The fact that everyone and everything has a time-span. Nothing lives forever. Stories come to an end. Happy stories, sad stories, good and kind stories, bad and cruel stories, they all share the same burial ground. But we are not called to such fatalism. The Mount of Olives is not our destiny.

We have to keep going.

To the place of the voluntary surrendering of our lives to God for others.

To the place of submission.

This is a new death. A letting go at the point of momentum. We still have life. We may even be at our prime. We still have vision. We have more to give. But it isn’t taken from us and we do not lose it, we give it away, we lay our life down, all that we are, all that we have accomplished, all that we own, we surrender to Him, out of our love for others. This is our destiny, Jerusalem. Where we willingly close the chapter trusting in Him who opens a new one, who makes a way, who never lets death win, who always causes the sun to rise, who continually makes sure we can begin again. This is our destiny.

Following Jesus

Mark 10: ⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” ⁵⁰ Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” ⁵² “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

 How would you reply to that question? The mother of James and John two of Jesus’ disciples said “we want prestige and status”

“I want to see”

The answer from Jesus was, “Go” I would have thought it would have been “See” and immediately he received his sight. But its “Go”.

This man was locked up contained and limited by his disability. He wasn’t able to go very far in life. He wasn’t able to work, he wasn’t a man women wanted to marry. He couldn’t sustain a family. He could walk and therefore travel but he wasn’t going anywhere.

Jesus didn’t just give him his sight but he opened a way for him. Jesus is the way the truth and the life.

Within you lies a calling from God that throughout your life gets contained by many circumstances. If God helped you overcome that what challenges your passion for Him and if He proclaimed the word ‘Go’ over your life, would you know the way? It’s in you, you must know it. “Given half the chance I would do this.” If the circumstances arose I would be running down that path at immense speed.

Where was Jesus going?

Mk10:17 “on his way” and v32 32 “on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way.”

The Jewish idea of a disciple, a follower of a rabbi, was that to be a true disciple you had to be so close that the dust of the rabbis feet would cover you.

One of the phrases relating to discipleship was, “How covered with the dust of the rabbi are you?” This was because a disciple would be so close to his rabbi, that wherever he walked, the dust of the rabbi would kick back onto the disciple.

We might think, “Surely this may have been true long ago, but this couldn’t work in today’s world.”  However, living author and disciplemaker Ray Vander Laan studied at Hebrew University and witnessed many such rabbis.. And related to who closely they follow their rabbis, Ray commented that he once saw a rabbi go into the bathroom and all of his disciples followed him in there. There rational was that the rabbi might pray after using the restroom, and they would miss it.

We need to shorten the space between ourselves and Jesus. The dust from Jesus’ feet is not upon us and it needs to be.

Where’s Jesus going? Jerusalem? The cross.

He is leading you to the cross. The cross of submission and surrender. It’s the place for the creation of passion for Him. Where Jesus is absolutely everything. Keep close to Him today.

 

Mark 10: ⁴⁸ Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

You are never too lost.

The society that Bartimaeus lived in thought blindness was only one step up from death. So we can understand his shout of “have mercy.”

But the request is also the needy cry of an oppressed man aware of his sin.

A few days ago I watched the film, “I can only imagine” which I highly recommend. It tells the story of Bart Millard and his group MercyMe, the title of their band was created by his grandmother concerned about Bart not having a proper job instead of being a youth intern. When he called her during the day she would cry, “Well Mercy me, why don’t you get a job!”

But I have begun to think about the mercy of God again. This morning I am impacted by the fact that God doesn’t look upon or treat me how I think He should because of who I am. Instead of what I deserve I receive compassion and forgiveness. He is a merciful God. Weare never too lost. No matter where you are today or what circumstance you are in you can call upon His mercy. I know this because of what the Bible says of what He has done with the power of sin.

No matter what sins you have done:-

He nails them to the cross. Colossians 2 :13-14. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

 

He blots them out. Isaiah 44:22. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

 

He removes them, they’re gone. Psalm 103:12. as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 

He casts them behind his back. Isaiah 38:17. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

 

He hurls them into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

 

He forgets, He will not remember them. Isaiah 43:25. I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

 

It is mercy!

It means I am never too lost!

You are never too loud

Mark 10: 46-48 ⁴⁶ Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

 You are never too loud, v48

If you are going to pursue Jesus, if you really need Him then someone or some situation will try and calm you down.

Many rebuked him. Many still do today. They believe they are right to do so.

But the ‘son of honour or value’ shouts out to the Son of David even more so, there is no one stopping him. It is an awkward pitiful scene. This is certainly not honourable. Attention is on this pathetic man who is nothing in society. Wherever you are today no matter what is going on or has happened, even if your circumstances are not aligning with who you are or what you believe or who you belong to, you can shout and you are never too loud, so call on Jesus as loud as you can, drown out all the other voices. Jesus!

What is limiting you today? What is trying to silence you? Is it insecurity, fear, emotional coldness or spiritual exhaustion?

Decide now you are going to remove whatever it is that stops you calling on Jesus.

Remove the ropes of judgment and condemnation: (Samson) “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. Judges 15:13

Remove the dust of rejection: “Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.” Isaiah 52:2

Remove the evils of control: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and to break every yoke?” Isaiah 58:6

Remove the grave clothes of being finished: “Lazarus came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” John 11:44

You are called not to be a quiet mouse, but you are a man and woman of God. You are called for greatness. Your dream is the Messiah to come. My friends He’s been and He’s coming again. There is more. God wants you to stretch and reach and shout out to Him.

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes …Do not be afraid, you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace, you will not be humiliated.” Isaiah 54:2, 4.

Yesterday and today may be taken as a day of insignificance, of failure and maybe limitation. But not today. Do not be silenced. Shout even louder. You are never too loud.