2 Woes for the Pharisees
Bible Book: Mark
God’s name is unequivocally the most complex and most important name ever! Because of this, we need to recognize the significance of His name and understand that when we speak of God, we are speaking of More Than Just A Name. We are referring to Jehovah, the “Self-Existent One”. Jehovah Elohim, the “Creator”.
The plan for man’s salvation was established from the very beginning. Foretold through the prophets, fulfilled by Jesus during the events of Passion Week, and continually echoed today through the apostle’s writings. Let us never forget that Jesus was the plan from the beginning.
Tonight’s topics include Jesus’ casting out of a demon, predicting His death once again, and a fish with a coin in its mouth.
Worship doesn’t have to be complex, loud, and showy, for it to be authentic. The things which motivate us lead us to true worship. When that worship is motivated by the love we have for God, the results are expressions of pure joy.
Jesus told a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob that God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Most of us at least now and again enter into wholehearted worship overwhelmed by God’s Spirit, but to worship God in Truth we must come to a point of awe at God’s worthiness to be worshiped. Only then can we fully enter into the spirit of worship which God desires from us.
As Christ followers we must honestly examine our motivations for our service to the Gospel. If we find we are not following the Lord for the right reasons, we must confess this sin before God, and seek His strength and guidance to bring us back into truly godly fellowship.
Matthew 15 records some miracles performed by Jesus – casting a demon out of the daughter of a gentile woman of Tyre, and feeding 4000 in the region of Decapolis.
In Matthew 15:1-20, Jesus was challenged by Pharisees from Jerusalem about why His disciples did not wash their hands before eating. Jesus turned their accusation back around asking why they imposed a man-made tradition on the people that led them to disobey the 5th Commandment to honor father and mother. Then Jesus explained to His disciples that it is not the physical cleanliness of what we allow into our mouths that defiles us, but the evil words we allow out of our mouths from the fullness of our hearts which defiles us.
