3rd Day
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Holy Week- Tuesday -The Fig Tree
He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. Mark 11:14
As we continue our “Quest To The Cross” our next stop is “The Fig Tree” Here Jesus was hungry , looking for something fruitful, and found a barren tree that produced no fruit. He immediately rebuked the tree and commanded that it will never produce fruit again, the tree withered and died immediately.
A few things we can observe from this, first notice again this is not the watered down Jesus that is portrayed by most. The power that Christ posses , even when he speaks, the tree withers and dies immediately. Just as when demons listen to his commands or he calm the waves of the sea. Jesus has full authority on Heaven and Earth.
Second “The Fig Tree” is symbolic to our spiritual lives. As Jesus said “Good trees produce good fruit , bad trees produce bad fruit, by our fruit we will be recognized (Matthew 7) So will Jesus say to us Good work faithful servant or depart from me you worker of lawlessness?
And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Mark 11:22
As the disciples noticed “The Fig Tree” withered Jesus said to them “Have faith in God” We can take this multiple ways, as they were amazed at Jesus power and authority over Heaven and Earth. Jesus instructed them faith can move mountains!
Do we have the faith to continue to be a fruitful disciple or will we wither away from lack of faith? Put your faith in God in Jesus name Amen!
These Days
Holy Week- Monday-Cleansing The Temple
And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS ‘? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” Mark 11:17
One of the most overlooked events , I believe ,is the cleansing of The Temple. Now this wasn’t a one time event, as Jesus cleansed the Temple at the beginning of his ministry (John 2) and he also cleansed it at the ending of his ministry (Mark 11). What was the significance? What was Jesus trying to teach us here?
First you need to understand what the Temple was and its purpose. The Temple was the only place on Earth where Gods presence existed at this time. If you wanted to worship God, you needed to come to the Temple. The Temple was the only place where the atonement of your sins could take place. If you wanted to make atonement for your sins, you needed to come to the Temple. The Temple was where the High Priests lived, you couldn’t receive atonement or come into the presence of God without the High Priest.
Jesus fulfilled all of this at the cross. The Temple was a foreshadow of Christ to come! Jesus said he would Destroy this Temple in 3 days and then raise it Up (John 2:19) He was talking about himself, his death and resurrection! Jesus fulfilled The Temple, Jesus is our atoning sacrifice, Jesus is our High Priest!
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
Jesus was cleansing the physical Temple from sin as an example to cleanse our temples from sin. The Temple of God in Israel had become corrupted, they used it more like a marketplace to make money than a house of worship, does this sound familiar with our Churches today? Jesus was making a statement, we need to worship God in Spirit and Truth (John 4:24)
When you become Born Again, your body is now the Temple of God, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you! God does not tolerate sin in the Lords House as he doesn’t tolerate sin in your body! Cleanse your temple! Amen!
Palm Sunday Sermon
Palm Sunday
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9
Palm Sunday is the celebration of Jesus entering Jerusalem as our King fulfilling the prophecy from Zechariah. Notice Jesus decided to ride a donkey instead of a horse, this was to show his humility and he is the “Prince of Peace”, many Jews were hoping for Jesus to wage war against Rome but God had a different plan.
During his arrival, everyone laid down palm branches, what did this symbolize? The palm branch in Roman culture symbolized victory. However the Palm branch was symbolic in Egyptian culture to symbolize eternal life. Both meanings are very fitting for Palm Sunday
(Matthew 21:9) “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest”
Hosanna means “Please deliver us” or “I beg you to save”. Everyone was desperately waiting for coming of our Messiah; Jesus fulfilled the promise and prophesies. This is part of what makes Palm Sunday so special and spiritual.
(Psalm 118:26) “Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
This is the Psalm the people sang while Jesus entered Jerusalem, everyone knew Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah promised from the Old Testament scriptures.
So this Palm Sunday remember Jesus is coming again soon, lets rejoice and sing in anticipation of our Messiahs return in Jesus name Amen
Risen
Mark 9- Help Our Unbelief
And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. Mark 9:17-19
As we know Jesus is the Lord of Lords, he is Master over everything natural and supernatural. Demons tremble and are in submission to Christ, so when they brought a demon possessed boy to Jesus, they said “we could not cast him out” Why? Do they believe this demon is greater than Christ? Do they believe Jesus is unable to heal?
Jesus called them “a faithless generation” ouch, think about all the miracles and healings these people have witnessed already, yet they still lacked faith in Christ. Do we really believe that Jesus is Lord over everything?
And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:20-23
The demon tormented the boy for a long time, the man asked Jesus to have compassion on them, remember Jesus demonstrated his love and compassion on the cross! While the suffering of this present life is difficult, the weeping and gnashing of teeth in eternity is even more frightening. Jesus had compassion on us and delivered us from sin and death
Jesus said “If you can believe, All things are possible” I know to many this sounds like a bumper sticker or cliche, but this is the spoken words of our Lord Jesus Christ, believe it!
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. Mark 9:24-25
“Lord , Help me with my unbelief” This should be the battle cry for all Christians, Help us Jesus to overcome our lack of faith and understanding. Jesus rebuked the demon and left the boy immediately, because Jesus is Lord and God
Help us Lord with our Unbelief, deliver us from our present sufferings in Jesus Name Amen!
Heaven Rejoices
Mark 9- The Transfiguration
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. Mark 9:2-5
Today we take a look at the event of the Transfiguration of Christ, this event reveals many things to us. First we see Jesus transforming into his glorified state, he immediately turned white as snow, this is similar to when the Apostle John saw Jesus in Revelation also how Daniel saw Christ in Daniel 7. There should be no mistake to the Apostles that Jesus is the one who was prophesied by Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, ect
Also we see Elijah and Moses standing with Jesus, for those who believe in soul sleep, how is this possible? Its obvious Elijah and Moses are alive and well, as we remember Elijah was actually raptured to Heaven. But also Elijah and Moses represent two important things here, Elijah represents the Prophets and Moses represents the Law
This is a revelation of the New Covenant, Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17) Having Elijah and Moses standing with him is obviously very significant
For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. Mark 9:6-9
Again we see our Heavenly Father confirming Jesus Christ the Son , “This is my beloved Son, listen to him” If you needed anymore confirmation that Jesus is the Christ or the New Covenant has come, I don’t know what to tell you. Notice the similarity between when Moses was on Mt Sinai when he received the Ten Commandments and this scene now
Jesus again prophecies about his death and resurrection, Christ does this over and over again throughout his ministry, yet the disciples never seemed to grasp it. Here again he says “Don’t tell anyone till the Son of Man has risen from the dead” Sounds pretty straight forward.
The transfiguration is just another glimpse into Gods Kingdom and a look at the Risen Christ who reigns forever and ever Amen!
Unashamed of Jesus 