SCRIPTURE:
“One Sabbath Jesus was going
through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began
to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are
they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" He answered, "Have you
never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in
need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of
God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to
eat. And he also gave some to his companions." Then he said to them,
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of
Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:23-28, NIV)
Observations:
I asked
myself what words/phrases were repeated?
As I looked through the passage,
Sabbath was mentioned 5 times so I decided to focus on it to see in what
instances it was mentioned.
-
One Sabbath, Jesus was
going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along,
they began to pick some heads of grain.
-
The Pharisees said to
him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
-
Jesus said, “The Sabbath
was made for man,
-
Not man for the Sabbath.
-
So the Son of Man is
Lord even of the Sabbath.
Interpretations:
Today I looked at the first 2 instances where Sabbath was mentioned:
Point 1:
I asked myself why Jesus would go through the
grainfields?
It
occurred to me whatever Jesus did He had a reason for it. Jesus already
knew that the disciples were going to pick some heads of grain. Jesus
took this opportunity to address the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath
because He knew they were going to ask Him a question. Earlier in the
chapter, I learned that Jesus knew what the Pharisees and teachers of
the law were thinking in their minds even before they said it. It would
be no different here. Jesus wanted to teach them a lesson regarding the
actions of the disciples too.
Point 2:
I asked myself what was significant about the
question the Pharisees asked Jesus?
I
found it interesting that the Pharisees do not address the disciples who
they perceive to be breaking the law but directly address Jesus
regarding the disciples. Rather, than talking to the disciples, they go
directly to the source. This made me see that the Pharisees saw Jesus as
the leader of the disciples and whatever mistakes they perceived the disciples did,
they wanted answers from Jesus because Jesus was in a leadership role.
Implications:
I saw important implications for
my own life. The Pharisees saw Jesus in a leadership role and when
they perceived mistakes were made, they did not address the persons making the mistake
but went to the source. This showed me the responsibility we have when
we are in a leadership role. Those who think they are leaders take it as an
opportunity to challenge other leaders when their followers mess up.
This tells me when we are in a
leadership role, we need to be aware of the actions of those that follow
us. We also need to be prepared for the fact that if followers
mess up, people may not question the followers for the mess up but the
leader who is in charge of the followers. If the leader does not have a
substantive defense, not only is the leader affected but the followers
are too.
Speaking from experience, I can tell you being in a leadership role is
not always easy. Being in authority over employees who I have to manage is like a
leader-follower role. When the employees have messed up, the managers go
to other managers to address the situation than the employees. The
assumption is that the manager is supposed to manage the employees and
if something went wrong then the manager is to answer. This makes
a lot of sense!
Even in ministry, if you are a
campus minister you have student leaders who work under you and follow
you. When the student leaders mess up and do things that are unbiblical
in their leadership role, the one who oversees the campus minister will
address the campus minister to see why it has happened that way because
the campus minister was put in authority to do the Lord’s work on campus
and faithfully shepherd the student leaders.
When followers mess up, the
Lord could demand an answer from you because He put you in that
leadership role to shepherd them! If negative things were happening then
the campus minister may not have been doing his job properly. This goes
to pastors too!
People don’t have to be in
authority to question someone if they perceive them to be doing wrong. I
can think of the church as an example. If people perceive that a certain
church overlooks deliberate and blatant sin of their congregation
members and does not even address it but gives a perception of condoning
it, the congregation members are not those who are questioned but the
pastor of that church would be in the spotlight and in the hot seat.
Whatever Jesus did I know is
right and I intend to look more closely at Jesus’ response in tomorrow’s
devotional time.
I ask you now dear friend, what kind of leader
is Jesus to you?
Dear friend, your perception of Jesus will determine what
kind of leader Jesus is to you. If you listen to the Pharisees or people
who do not like what Jesus stands for then you will perceive Jesus as
the Pharisees who did not see Jesus as a good leader but a bad leader.
But if you tune into God's voice and listen to the teachings of Jesus,
you will realize what an awesome leader Jesus is that we can faithfully
follow without any hesitation or doubt.
The Martha Syndrome explains it better. Martha is in no way to be
compared to the Pharisees because she loved Jesus and acknowledged Jesus
as Lord. However, according to Luke 10:38-42, we see Martha questioning
Jesus' leadership thinking 'Jesus is a leader who does not care.' This
stemmed because of where her focus was on.
Martha was distracted by all the things she had to do being worried
and upset about many things that she could not take time to actually sit
at the feet of Jesus listening to Jesus.
Mary her sister on the other hand, tuned into the voice of Jesus as
she sat at His feet listening to Him when He was invited into their
home. Mary knew Jesus was a leader whose message is worth listening to
and decided to follow Him by giving Jesus her undivided attention.
Jesus addressed Martha in a loving way when He was interrupted as
Mary listened to Him. The final analysis was Mary chose what is better
and would not be taken away from her which was choosing Jesus first and
His Word over all the other distractions.
Jesus became such a leader to Mary that Mary wanted to do things with
Jesus BEING with Jesus, DOING things with Jesus, and KNOWING Jesus. Out
of this experience flowed an outpouring of DOING things for Jesus.
Martha focused on 'Doing things FOR Jesus and got frustrated'
Mary focused on 'Doing things WITH Jesus and was at peace'
Again in John 12 we see what is not recorded in Luke 10:38-42 that
while Martha served dinner, the dinner she was so busy preparing, Mary
got up after listening at the feet of Jesus and anointed Jesus with
perfume. Here Mary did something for Jesus but it was an outflow of her
relationship of BEING, DOING, AND KNOWING Jesus.
If you see Jesus as Mary saw Jesus then you will want to sit at the
feet of Jesus and learn from Him. You will realize that Jesus is the
Word and God's Word will become that much more powerful in your life
because when you open God's Word and read it, you are actually listening
to the voice of Jesus, sitting at the feet of Jesus in a figurative
sense. You are allowing Jesus to lead and guide you.
You will see Jesus as a leader worth listening to and following. What
kind of leader Jesus is to you will also determine how you vote in this
election.
If you see Jesus as a leader whose commands should be followed and
adhered to then it will be really hard for you to vote for someone who
is for the killing of the unborn as Obama, is especially when he also
voted against the 'Born Alive Infant Act'. Obama wants to keep Roe v.s
Wade legalized which will continue to let abortion be on demand while
Jesus speaks out against the shedding of the blood of the unborn.
If you see Jesus as a leader whose commands should be followed and
adhered to then it will be really hard for you to vote for someone who
is for GAY MARRIAGE. Obama is for Gay Marriage which is totally against
God's view of marriage that we as His children should adhere too.
Obama plans to repeal the 'Defense of Marriage Act' which Clinton
signed into law because as is the DOMA will not allow Gay Marriage's in
one state to be accepted in other states. Obama wants to change that.
In John 12 as you read, you will realize that Judas Iscariot put so
much emphasis on the economy and what the money could have been used
that Mary spent on Jesus. Jesus' response is profound.
Right now if we view Jesus as Scripture wants us to view Jesus then
the economy will still become secondary no matter how bad it is because
Jesus was more about MORALITY than MONEY.
History will show the richest nations fine with their economy (
unscrambled: MONEY CO) started to crumble when MORALITY was put
secondary.
For me taking Jesus as my leader, it is hard for me to vote for
someone who puts so much emphasis on MONEY CO than MORALITY. For
me Obama wants to avoid the CHARACTER issues that address the MORALITY
of his ties and focus on MONEY CO or economy.
Jesus is a leader to me that makes me want to vote for McCain-Palin
not because they are saints, far from it but on MORALITY issues on a
larger scale dealing with ABORTION and HOMOSEXUALITY, they want to put
an end to those issues.
God is looking for leaders who will STAND FOR MORALITY than STAND FOR
MONEY.
Focusing on money when it is put above morality is spoken against by
God's Word multiple times in Scriptures. That's why King Saul lost his
throne because he did not see GOD as a LEADER to be OBEYED and was
IMMORAL when he deliberately to INCREASE the ECONOMY of his kingdom, he
took POSSESSIONS for MONETARY gain that God wanted destroyed.
Your vote this election will determine what kind of leader Jesus is
to you. That has to be honestly between you and the Lord but you need to
let Jesus speak to you as Jesus spoke to Martha and Mary.
If Jesus is putting it upon your heart to vote for Obama who am I to
judge.
I don't want to be like Martha and ask, "Lord, don't you care that my
brothers and sisters in Christ are voting for OBAMA who is for the
things you are against such as ABORTION, GAY MARRIAGE, PROMOTION OF
ISLAM (in Kenya), etc"
Before the Bible study that the Lord had me lead last night, that was
a question on my mind but who am I to think that Jesus does not care.
Jesus' ways are higher than my ways. As Jesus addressed Martha, Jesus
does not want me to be worried or upset about this election in my case
but listen to His Word and follow it.
For me that means taking Jesus as my leader and trying to influence
lives based on Scriptural principles dealing with morality, character,
etc and leave the results into the Lord's hands.
There are only two
choices when it comes to being a leader; you are either a good leader or
a bad leader. It can be an honor to be a leader but there is also great
responsibility that comes with it. Those that follow you will be
influenced by your own actions because they see you in a leadership
position. You can take that opportunity to be a righteous leader as you
depend on the Lord Jesus Christ to help you and guide you to be the best
leader you can be.
I know I want to be the best leader wherever the Lord
has placed me. Everyone is a leader in some capacity for everyone has
followers whether we acknowledge it or not. If you are a big brother or
sister, you have younger brother/sister that becomes a follower, etc.
If you are a pastor, you have a congregation who follows after your
teaching (here it scares me if any pastor in the United States is for
Obama because it indirectly condones saying 'Abortion and Gay Marriage
are ok, etc ')
Jesus is the best example of learning how to be a good leader. Jesus
loves you and me so much that while we were yet sinners Jesus took it
upon Himself to pay the ransom by dying for our sins. Jesus did that so
His precious cleansing blood can wash away all our filthiness and make
us white as freshly fallen snow.
As a leader, Jesus took the initiative to have followers by restoring
them to a relationship with Him when they turn to Him with all their
sins and ask Jesus to nail them to the cross.
Friend, God in His holiness cannot allow sin to enter into His
presence so Christ paid the price to redeem us from the bondage of sin
and death. Now we don't come to Heaven because we feel we have done
99.9% of good things and only 00.1% of bad things. Bad is bad and a
black dot on a white poster does not make that poster completely white.
We need to be completely pure to enter the presence of the Lord and
Christ made it possible for us when we turn our lives over to Him.
When God sees us now He does not see 99.9% of water being polluted by
00.1% of cyanide but sees Christ's cleansing blood covering over us and
His judgment passes over us. We are restored to God. Let us take Jesus
as our leader and make decisions as His followers based on His
teachings.
May you learn from the Master
Himself on how to be a good leader for His honor and glory! Amen!
Good books to read on leadership
are "Transforming Leadership" and "Master Plan of Evangelism",
'Excellence in Leadership', and 'Making of a Leader'. If you
want those books, I can get you a copy!
“Leading
Everyday Always Deliverer Emancipates Readily!”(L.E.A.D.E.R)/”What
kind of leader is Jesus to you?
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for letting me learn about
leadership. Oh Lord thank you for being the best leader and being up to
the challenge to answer those that question your leadership. You Oh Lord
have set an example for us. Help us Oh Lord to know that when we are in
a leadership position, we are scrutinized more and need to set a good
example for those that follow us. Lord, when we are followers also, help
us to follow you depending on you for wisdom. More than anything, Oh Lord we
ask your help to follow you this election and to put MORALITY over MONEY. We want to follow you Jesus and be guided
by you. Forgive us our sin Oh Lord and cleanse us with your precious
cleansing blood. I thank you Jesus! Please come into my heart and make
my heart your home. I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and
making my heart your home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will
live for you and with you serving you the rest of the days of my life as I follow
you with your help. I acknowledge you as my Lord and Personal Savior!
Thank you Jesus for being my Lord and Personal Savior! I surrender my
life to you and ask for your help! Thank you Jesus that you have heard
my prayers and answered me! In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
ANALOGY OF INVITING PEOPLE TO THE GREAT PHYSICIAN:
We are like an ambulance taking
sick people to the
hospital. People are dying and there is an emergency because of an
epidemic virus. The ambulance takes the initiative to go to the place
people are dying and bring them to the hospital. They are not dead yet
but there is no time to wait. The ambulance needs to get to the hospital
for that virus to be treated. The virus has infected the mind, body, and
soul spreading rapidly. You and I cannot do anything to heal our friends
of this virus except be the AMBULANCE taking them to the HOSPITAL where
the GREAT PHYSICIAN waits.
Once at the hospital, there is a GREAT PHYSICIAN that waits. The sick
are gathered from all corners of the earth and come to this hospital.
This hospital is called CALVARY OF SALVATION and the EMERGENCY WARD is
called GOLGOTHA.
The GREAT PHYSICIAN is not like other doctors who can only treat
patients with physical ailments but this GREAT PHYSICIAN is much
more and knows He has to stay 72 HOURS for every dying person there to
be healed.
He knows what He has to do! This GREAT PHYSICIAN knew that only His
BLOOD can wipe away this epidemic VIRUS, so for you and me He went to
the blood transfusion room where people were about to die. There He lay
down on the bed made of wood.
The surgeons walk into the room. They turn this GREAT PHYSICIAN on
His back. Instead of using an IV, a WHIP with sharp glass, etc is
used to draw out the BLOOD from the GREAT PHYSICIAN'S back! It does not
stop there but to elevate the head on the bed of wood, a CROWN OF THORNS
is used which draws more BLOOD.
As the head is elevated, the GREAT PHYSICIAN's hands are stretched
wide on the wooden bed. Then the feet are bound together. This is done
for the BLOOD transfusion to begin. Instead of using an IV, NAILS and a
HAMMER is used. The NAILS are pounded through the hands into the wooden
bed with a HAMMER so the BLOOD flows and that BLOOD is saved. The NAILS
are pounded through the feet into the wooden bed with a HAMMER so more
BLOOD flows and that BLOOD is saved. As the BLOOD continues to flow from
the GREAT PHYSICIAN's body, the GREAT PHYSICIAN flat lines. Then the
surgeons insert a SPEAR into the heart to make sure all the BLOOD is
out. All the BLOOD is out!
Now, the GREAT PHYSICIAN is moved into the JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA MORGUE
being guarded by security.
Now the CALVARY OF SALVATION hospital has a BLOOD DONOR whose BLOOD
can be used to save everyone there from this EPIDEMIC VIRUS.
Those dying need to be taken there to receive the BLOOD transfusion
that is available. However, the BLOOD will not be forced upon those
dying! THE PUREST RED ANTIDOTE is only given to those that are willing
to receive the BLOOD TRANSFUSION so they could LIVE.
All that accept the BLOOD are being CLEANSED of this EPIDEMIC VIRUS
in their system that is infecting the mind, body, and soul. This
BLOOD goes into the dying person's mind, body, and soul and eats away at
the virus cleaning them and making them pure. This VIRUS is known as
SIN. The BLOOD is the PRECIOUS CLEANSING BLOOD OF THE GREAT PHYSICIAN,
JESUS CHRIST.
The WOODEN BED is the CROSS OF CHRIST where the dying need to be led
too.
72 HOURS LATER, there is a commotion at the JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA
MORGUE. THE GREAT PHYSICIAN is not there anymore and the ANGELS that
visit tell loved ones who came there, that THE GREAT PHYSICIAN IS ALIVE
and will save all that come to Him.
It is true even to this day, for all that come to the HOSPITAL OF CALVARY come to realize that His CLEANSING
BLOOD shed on the WOODEN BED (CROSS) will never run out. Anyone infected
who wants to be healed of their sickness can accept what Jesus did for
them and be covered in His precious CLEANSING
BLOOD.
I have done that friend and know that at the foot of the cross where
Jesus died shedding His precious cleansing blood for my sin and the sins
of the world, I can find forgiveness and grace.
Thanks be to God that Christ's death on the cross was temporary to
remove all His precious cleansing blood for our sake but after He was
buried, Jesus came back to life to save.
To this day, all who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved when
they acknowledge what Jesus Christ has done for them and what He can do
for them.
Friend, Jesus loves you so much and if you were the only one living
on earth, Jesus would have done the same for you. What I shared with you
was an analogy but in real life it has happened. Jesus went to the cross
for you and me and His precious cleansing blood was shed so you and I
could have life. Jesus came back to life 72 hours later and is alive but
His blood continues to heal people on every corner of the earth to those
that accept Him.
You can invite the GREAT PHYSICIAN right now as you make this your prayer.
Dear Jesus,
thank you for healing the paralytic after forgiving his sins. You set him
free to go home. I want to be free. I don’t know
everything about you. I still have a lot of questions. What I do know is
that you died on the cross for my sins. When it comes to sin, I am a
paralytic Oh Lord. I am infected with this deadly disease known as sin.
I am not perfect but a sinner who needs your cleansing blood to clean me
of my sin. I confess to you my sin and repent of my sin. I know
you have forgiven me when you died on the cross. I want to accept that
forgiveness. Thank
you for shedding your cleansing precious blood for me. You were nailed
to the cross because of me. It is like I actually held the hammer and
pounded the nails so I could be free. Thank you for willingly dying for
me Jesus. Thank you for taking the shame and pain for me. Thank you for
doing that to set me free. I come to the cross and ask you for your
healing in my life. Thank you for the power of your Blood to redeem
humanity. Thank you for coming back to life to save us and give us
Eternal Life as we yield to you. Your blood can heal us where we are. I
love you Jesus. I want you Jesus. Even with my questions, I come to you now and accept you
into my heart. Please Jesus come into my heart and make my heart your
home. Give me a transfusion of change. Live in me Jesus and I will live
for you and serve you the rest of the days of my life. I thank you Jesus
for coming into my heart and making my heart your home. Thank you for
living in me Jesus. I acknowledge you now as my Lord and Personal
Savior. Please be the Lord and Savior of my life. Thank you for being my
Lord and Personal Savior Jesus and because of what you have done for me when
God looks at me, He now sees me covered in your blood and His judgment
passes over me. Thank you that you have heard my prayer and answered me.
Thank you for being with me Lord. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit.
Thank you Jesus I now belong to you and never need to be alone! You will
always be with me and have given me Salvation. In Your Name I Pray
Jesus! Amen!
May my spoken words and
unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord my Rock and my
Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)
