March 12
Num 16:41-18:32 | PS 55:1-23 | Prov 11:7 | Mark 16:1-20
Pastor Chuck Smith poses the question: "What is unbelief costing you today-peace of mind? A joyful heart? Are you fretting over circumstances or because you feel your life is out of control, even though Scripture tells you not to worry? Are you disbelieving God's promises, God's power and God's love for you?" I recently saw a patient of mine who resides much of her time in Lake Placid. I have known her for a long time, we are members of the same church, we both love Jesus, and we are both very relaxed when it comes to things such as wearing masks and social distancing. She states that in her community the majority of people have relaxed and are living much more peacefully. Although there is a smaller contingent of very wealthy individuals who live there. She can recognize them. They tend to avoid everyone else. They isolate, even within the town. They are masked and goggled up, often even within their own cars. They live in fear of losing everything in this world they have worked so hard to obtain. What is it that you are digging your fingers into and won't let go of? If it is God, then you will not be clinging onto the things of this world and peace will emanate from you. If it is the things of this world, you will live in fear of losing that which you have no guarantee of keeping. If you accept Jesus, God guarantees heaven. There is nothing to fear.
We read in Numbers 18:20, "Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel." Aaron would not inherit the land or any portion because God was his portion and his inheritance. God would provide for him, and Aaron would not be distracted and bogged down in the pursuit of the things of this world. Multiple times throughout Jesus' ministry He told them in advance that He would die in Jerusalem, but not to fear, since He would rise from the dead. You would have thought that the disciples would be the first ones at the grave in anticipation, but they were cloistered away weeping and mourning. So we read in Mark 16:9-13, "Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either". (Luke 24:13-27). We see Jesus' response to them in Mark 16:14, "Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen."
We, as believers, have a commission, given by Jesus, Himself, in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen." But, we will never fulfill that commission as long as we hang on to the things of this world. If our thoughts, our hopes, our desires are on our homes, our families, our jobs, our lives, then our eyes will be turned inward. Fear will naturally be the result as we see these things slipping away, or not turning out the way we had planned. But, as God's children, if we realize, as Aaron was told, that the things on this earth are not our possessions, but we are God's possession, then we are free to live the life that God has intended for us.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: