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Bi-Weekly Bible Study & Newsletter Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church in North America M G S O S A
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Bible Study May 21st 2006 |
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Mathew Ch. 9
When Jesus picks a person up and comforts him/her through these situations, He may address a sin problem first. Once cleansed and under Christ’s wing, a victorious, grateful attitude can replace apathy or fear. From that point on miracles can happen. Jesus really did have the authority to approach this situation as He chose. Before all assembled, the paralytic was healed. For those open to faith, doubt was erased. Note that those spiritually sickened by dead tradition and carnal interests found a way to remain in darkness.
The take home point here is simple. In this small portion of Scripture, we find a very active Jesus intervening in the physical world. He is motivated by compassion and a desire to powerfully demonstrate the glory of God. We worship the same Jesus today, and have many spiritual weapons to beat back the apathy, fear, and status quo thinking that separate us from the will of God. We not only have the historical record of miraculous events to encourage us, but the depth and breadth of the Scriptures and Church history to guide us. We’ve got to delve into these areas though, and that takes time. We must move beyond what we currently expect from God and His Church and move toward fulfilling our dreams as He interacts with us. Like the woman with the issue of blood, we must try to touch Him, because once we really get a hold of Him the sky is the limit.
The Lord looks out with compassion at the people gathered around Him in the last portion of the chapter. He sees them not as dead, but close to bearing fruit. He sees their potential, but adds that there are only a few workers to bring the harvest in. When fruit is ready to be picked, there is only a small time frame for it to be gathered up. Beyond this window, other animals may eat up too much of it, disease may set in, or it may simply fall to the ground and rot. Likewise, most of us have heard the Gospel message, and most of us truly desire (or desired) the message to be real in our lives. Unfortunately, some of us better resemble the spiritually sick souls mentioned earlier. They were familiar with everything, but for some reason the message of God became a millstone around their neck, killing joy and bringing strife rather than creating peace, healing, and security.
Maybe no one was around to help harvest these beloved individuals. Their hearts and minds must be cultivated once again by a movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
You are the worker Jesus speaks about, few in number, ready to thresh the field and collect the fruit. Consider how you will deal with this calling, and begin laboring in the field, expecting much toil and great joy along the way! |
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Ponderous ideas |
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