When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

John 2:1-12

When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:3-4

I continue my study of John, and today, I unpack John 2:1-12 using the Sword Bible Study Method, and tomorrow I will take another pass at the text and summarize my thoughts from both today and tomorrow by providing an outline/divisions and main point for the text.  

• What do we learn from the passage about God?: Once again, as I posted yesterday, Jesus acts with intent and purpose - He has a plan; see v4 where He rebukes His mother for asking Him to make more wine by sharing "My hour has not yet come"; yet while Jesus does act with intent and He does have a plan, He responds to the cares and concerns of His people and in this case His own mother;  clearly this was not a need that reached the same level as other requests for healing, etc. but Jesus will respond to the cares and concerns of His people and STILL make His plan work; here Jesus produces wine from water - the first of His miracles that "manifested His glory" - v10.  
• What do we learn from the passage about people?: Jesus' mother's request can be seen as a petty use of Jesus' power as the King of Kings; people often make petty requests of God - He is not a vending machine - vv3-4. Upon Jesus' turning of the water into wine, Jesus' disciples believed 
• Is there anything from the passage God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid,Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): We should bring our cares and concerns to Jesus (1 Peter 5:7) and He wants to hear them - however, we should be mindful that Jesus is not a vending machine and we should seek His will not our own with our requests (see also Luke 22:42).    

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and who is full of compassion and grace - You want to hear our cares and concerns and You respond.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such love, grace and mercy - my salvation - the greatest gift of all time.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?

Mark 8:1-26

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? Mark 8:17-18

I continue my study of Mark, leaning on the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series volume for Mark.  Today, I focus on an unassisted review of Mark 8:1-26, which is the text for the next chapter of the commentary. Observations of the text based on the Sword Bible Study Method: 

• What do we learn from the passage about God?: Crowds gathered everywhere God - v2 - and He had compassion on them, seeking to not just teach and meet their spiritual needs, but also their physical needs. Yet there are those who's hearts remain hardened and fail to understand - it is God alone who softens hearts and brings about an understand of who Jesus is.  See also v12 where Jesus shares how "no sign will be given to this generation" in response to the Pharisees - they had no faith.  This is in contrast to those who demonstrated desperate faith (hunger and thirst). Jesus seeks those who have faith.  Jesus warns us of the influences of those without faith - v15.  
• What do we learn from the passage about people?: Jesus seeks desperate faith from us - that all things are possible - Philippians 4:13.  We are often worried or have doubts (see v4,16) that Jesus can do what He says - we can take comfort in knowing that "all of God's promises find their yes in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).  People often see Jesus as a vending machine - that He has done something and they seek for Him to do it again - this is not faith in Jesus.  Alternatively, Jesus wants those who are truly seeking a healing to come to Him (v22).    
• Is there anything from the passage God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid,Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): We must avoid seeking to test God as the Pharisees in v11 (see also Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7, Luke 4:12).  We must also remember what God has done - see v18.  Believers all have testimony where they can share at any given moment what He has done in their lives and in those around them - see also Acts 4:20.  We should have desperate faith such as those whom Jesus has healed. 

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and never stops working for me - You reached down into the pit and saved me - while still an enemy and hostile to You.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

 John 14:1-14

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” John 14:1-4

I continue my study of John and today I focus on John 14:1-14, where Jesus once again emphasizes that Jesus and God the Father are One.  Here are my observations using the Sword Bible Study Method. 

• What do we learn from the text about God?: God does not want believers to be troubled - where He is going He is saving a place for us (in Heaven) and when He returns for second time He will take us there.  We should rest in this promise - see vv1-4.  In response to Thomas and Philip, Jesus shares in v6 that "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," and "no one comes to the Father except me," and that He and Father are One (vv7, 10-11) so if we know Jesus, we know the Father.  Jesus encourages us to believe (questions are OK but don't stop believing) - see vv11-12.  Jesus also shares that He wants believers to do the works that Jesus does - v12 - and "greater works than these [a believer] will do, because [Jesus] going to the Father."  Here Jesus reveals that the Holy Spirit will be with them and He will share more on this in vv15-31. Finally, in vv13-14, Jesus shares oft misinterpreted text on prayer - we should not view Jesus as a vending machine with our prayer.  Focus on understanding God's will for our lives as He transforms our heart and mind to think more like Him.  Then our prayers will be for His purpose - not our own.  
• What do we learn from the text about people?: The disciples are troubled because Jesus is sharing that He is leaving them (soon to be crucified) and they cannot join Him where He is going (at least not yet). Again, this is God revealing Himself to the disciples but there is still mystery to what and how this will occur.  Mystery is not reason to doubt God but to question Him and remain in Him, leaning on what you know is true and that He is faithful.  Thomas and Philip seek to understand but Jesus appears a bit frustrated with them because He feels by know they should know the answers to their questions (Thomas - how can we know the way - v5, Philip - show us the Father - v8).  
• Is there anything from the text God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid, Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): Avoid doubting God or disbelief because we do not fully understand what He is saying in scripture.  Claim the promise that Jesus is saving a place for us in Heaven.  Follow the example of Jesus who is faithful.  Believe.  

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and saves - and You are saving a place for me in Heaven.  Thank You!  I am not deserving of how You love and save.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.   

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. v7

I continue to ask in prayer that God turn me into a prayer warrior, particularly because of my role as a father and husband, but also because of my love for Christ and others and a desire to serve.  I have been asking God to help me pray for more needs, more of the time.

This morning, through Jesus' words in John and via John Piper my thoughts on prayer are somewhat redirected - not so much away from my and others' needs - but focus more on spiritual/eternal needs vs physical and earthly needs.

V7 and similar words in v16 challenged me this morning to better understand what Jesus means by telling us that essentially we will get everything we ask for in prayer.  I already knew this was not true in an earthly sense - God is not a vending machine.  Jesus places several very important conditions on when we can expect Him to delivery what we ask for, and we must understand these conditions.

John Piper helps us understand these conditions and other important aspects of prayer.

1. Prayer is fruit bearing: "If you are not devoted to fruit-bearing, you have no warrant for expecting answers to prayer. Prayer is designed for fruit-bearing."

2. Prayer is not for gratifying natural desires: "[natural desires] should always be subordinate to spiritual desires; kingdom desires; fruit-bearing desires; gospel-spreading, God-centered desires; Christ-exalting, God-glorifying desires."

3. The words of Jesus abiding in us prepare us for fruit-bearing prayer.

4. The more we are saturated by the words of Jesus, the more our prayers will be answered. 

Piper encourages us to take heed in Psalm 37:4.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are a great God who loves me and who has grown in my heart and life - giving my a life of peace and joy - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  I worry and I have much more sin - please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

Mark 1:35-45

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.  Mark 1:40-42

I continue my study of Mark, leaning on the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series volume for Mark.  Today, I focus on a commentary-assisted review of Mark 1:35-45, which is the text for the next chapter of the commentary.  Excerpts from the third (of three) division of the commentary, which covers 1:40-45:

• "The person with the disease was mocked and shunned. The leper had to wear torn clothes, leave his hair unkempt, cover his face, and cry out “Unclean!” He was forced to live in isolation."
• "Leviticus 13–14 discusses the disease. It was usually regarded as an evidence of divine punishment. As such, the cure could only come from the Lord. Other illnesses could be healed, but leprosy had to be both healed and cleansed. Needless to say, no one in the Bible healed a leper by touch other than Jesus."
• Warren Wiersbe's Be Diligent shares: "When you read the ‘tests’ for leprosy in Leviticus 13, you can see how the disease is a picture of sin. Like sin, leprosy is deeper than the skin (v3); it spreads (vv5-8); it defiles and isolates (vv44-46); and it renders things fit only for the fire (vv47-59). Anyone who has never trusted the Savior is spiritually in worse shape than this man was physically."
• "[The leper] was desperate, and he believed only Jesus could heal him and make him clean. He came, knelt, and begged, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Wow! His faith is astounding! The issue is not whether Jesus could heal him, but would He? This man comes to Jesus with great courage, great humility, and great faith—the same way we, as sin-sick sinners, must come to Him. He came believing in the only One who could change his life and make him whole."
• "As the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53:4, [Jesus] takes on Himself the infirmities of this man, cleanses him, and makes him whole!"
• "Jesus sternly charged the cleansed leper to see the priest to be pronounced clean so that he could return to his community and not to tell anyone. Jesus "wants followers who seek Him! People are always tempted by the sensational. Jesus desires followers who long for truth and want to know Him. He does not want people to come to Him to get what they want."  God is not a vending machine!
• "Ironically, Jesus and the leper have traded places. The leper is now on the inside with family and friends. Jesus is on the outside in a lonely and desolate place. This picture of substitution is the heart of the gospel. It is why Jesus came. He will take on Himself our sin, our sorrow, and our shame. In return He gives us His forgiveness, His holiness, and His righteousness—praise the Lord! What an exchange!"   

Jesus' healing of the leper is of course key to this third and last division (vv40-45) of the text - Mark 1:35 to 1:45. The commentary refers to this division as The Kingdom Advances Through Healing.  The first and second divisions...Through Prayer, and Through Preaching.  We must all recognize that we are all spiritually dead and broken until Jesus saves us - we all need a Savior and the One Who Heals and Binds Our Wounds and Sins.  He does this by taking our sin upon Himself and the punishment we deserve.

Also, in my commentary-assisted study of this division, I once again revisit the "Messianic Secret" which I first explored a few days ago here.  God reveals Himself in the Word through the Holy Spirit.  Yet until glorification, we don't fully comprehend God's Word or even God Himself.  We rely on sanctification to bring about a progressively greater understanding of God.  This post from John Piper on DesiringGod.com explores this topic further as Piper describes the mystery of God, sharing: "[s]o I'm not sure I know why God would hold his insights, and give them at certain points, and then crash us with wonderful insights for a season and then withhold them for others. God knows what he is doing, and we need to profit from it by acknowledging that we are finite and fallible and sinful."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of incredible grace and compassion for me - saving me while I was still hostile and an enemy to You.  You also continue to pour out rich mercies that never cease and I experience every morning.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

John 4

 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” v48

In v43-54 we see Jesus healing an official's son in Cana (see also John 2 where Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding).  Jesus' response (v48) to the royal official's request (v47) reveals perhaps an untoward motive on the part of the official.  Many people view the basis of a relationship with Jesus Christ as transactional - Jesus exists to affirmatively respond to our prayers; that He exists for us.  MacArthur writes that the official's motivation "apparently centered in Jesus' reputation as a miracle worker rather than as Messiah.

Check out this video and this post which echo my sentiment that God is NOT a vending machine!

Instead, we MUST recognize Jesus as Messiah and that we exist to glorify God not the other way around.  

In a step of faith, the official did take Jesus at His word that his son will live (v49-50).  The official's son did live and "he and his whole household believed" (v51-53).

Contrast the official in this story with that of the centurion in Matthew 8 and Luke 7 where the centurion referred to Jesus as Lord.

God wants a personal relationship with us where we spend time with Him, we get to know Him through study of His Word, we share our praise and prayers with Him, and we worship Him (including corporate worship at church).

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and You are always there - I know this - thank You Jesus!  I am undeserving of such a God.  I sin - all of the time!  Please forgive me for how I missed the mark yesterday - it happens every day!  Help me overcome my sin and turn towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.