Mark Chapter 6 Verses 7 – 13

• So Jesus begins to send them out throughout the city to preach as it says there in verse 12. And the message? Repent man, turn…the word in the Greek is metanoeō…literally change your mind from being bent on and addicted to evil and self. Not a popular message. Still isn’t today. Do you know what is popular today? In the church it is "God wants you to be happy. God wants you to be wealthy. To be copacetic and to blend in nicely…to fit well…so let’s work on your self-image and your ability to blend…" Can you imagine Paul sitting through that sermon!?

• What on earth did Paul have to make him happy? A good job? Dude worked nights and picked up odd jobs as he traveled just to have enough money to get a little bread…not even to get a bed or a shower! A new car maybe, one that didn’t leak oil and that has a CD player? The sandals he had were even given to him or dug out of the trash…yet he would write, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." And, "My God supplies all that I need pertaining to godliness and riches!" Paul wouldn’t make it 5 minutes in some of these churches…he’d either get thrown out or get up grab a donut and walk…

• So what’s the popular message in the streets then? "God knows you’re a good person…He understands your situation…you’re good with the Big Man…anyway, how can a God of love send anyone to hell?" A good person? All are wretchedly sinful. All are guilty of breaking all of God’s holy laws…and if God is a good Judge then when you stand before Him He will have to judge you and you will be found offensive just as your sin is offensive to Him today. True He sends no one to hell…but what’s missed is that you send yourself…

• So what’s the right message, the message that must be received or the Bible is clear folks will be judged even more harshly than Sodom and Gomorrah…the message is repent man…turn from your sin and give your life to God…that is why the road is described as narrow and the pathway hard…narrow because no one can do it for you or with you…it’s you and you alone…hard because the trap has been set and the flesh rages…but we must deny our sin, take up our cross and follow Jesus…to where? Skull hill man…the grave…and be born again…because of that, few will find it…

• This is real man. Heavy stuff. Tough message. But you gotta get it right…get this wrong then it all crumbles! Ever get home row wrong when you place your hands on the keyboard? Pretty soon you notice you’re typing in tongues!!! It’s all off! Same with this…what is the message Jesus sent them to preach? Repent man…and turn from your sin! So then why not do it Himself? Why send them? Why not do as He did in Capernaum and hit the beach, hop in a boat and blind them with science? (You gotta get the study on Mark Chapter 4 to understand that one. J )

• Why send them? Because the people wouldn’t hear Him. We saw that last week. And so Jesus takes the twelve, who are from all over, and sends them out into the city, two by two. Now Mark gives no names. I wonder who got hooked up with who? Right? Do you think maybe John was put with James and was like, "ah great!" I mean you know these guys were close but they also would bicker. Later we’ll see in Mark Chapter 10 that they were discussing which of them was greater! Could that have been rooted in this occurrence?

• What if Peter got linked up with Judas? Oh man that would have been a dynamic…but I digress. Imagine them as Jesus called them over and said, "Boys, I’m gonna hang back this time…as the Father as sent Me, I now send you." Maybe some of them were like, "dude wait, what?" "This is not good. You’re the One with the power. What are we going to do? And what do you want us to tell them?" Repent! "Oh this is going to go over real well…" John, you’re dad still hiring?

• And so Jesus hooks them up. Mark tells us that Jesus gave them a message and also gave them power. Power to heal the sick and cast out many demons but then He also gives them one another. Why? Because just like us, the disciples were dependent upon each other…they needed one another, they drew power from each other…and also, their preaching was a call to action. A correction and then a commandment which would not be received lest they go out by two or by three.
• What? Yea, it’s in the Law. Deuteronomy 19:15, "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established." So Jesus sent them out two by two so that their message would be received. But also, and most practically important for us, Jesus did this because we are wired to relate. We are programmed to associate, to link, to connect with each other. We need it man. Community is a basic human need.
• From the moment we are born we are in need of each other. No one can breathe on their own. We need the mouth cleared by the doctors, a little pop in the behind to get the baby to cry and to therefore to take a breath. We cannot survive without food and water but what baby would get hired at Starbucks to make a little cash to buy some food. Can you imagine that through the drive through? You think it’s bad now!? HA! What infant can hunt and gather?

• No no no. You see it takes two to converse. It takes two to fellowship (which is a word that has grown wanting to me…I think I’ll change it soon…maybe family-time or chillax! Wouldn’t that be rad? To translate koininea as chillax? Acts 2:42, "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and in chillaxin, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." Sounds much better!) Anyway, it takes two to have family-time, right?

• It takes two men to make one brother…see what I’m saying? If there is only one man, where is the brother? It takes two to encourage, it takes two to remind, it takes two to comfort…it takes two babbbbbyyyyy! (old song) Me and you! HA!

• And so Jesus instates community. He does it here in Mark 6, He does it here in this church and my my my how important it is. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

• Jesus taught them to pray, "My Father, who is in heaven…" Nope. "Our Father…." We are wired to need to be close to one another and Jesus here calls them to Himself, gives them power and them gives them community. You can rarely have one without the other…and He also commands them…keep it simple man. Take nothing. The material things, the needs of your flesh, they’ll just get in the way of the message, they’ll just take from the power of the preaching…

• Interesting perspective was granted to me this past week by the Lord. One that I don’t entirely grasp and one of which as a destination…I have not arrived. But God showed it to me. A close friend of mine has Lou Gehrig’s disease. A treacherous, malicious disease that attacks everyone a little differently. He is not able to speak. Not able to swallow. Yet he lives on and loves the Lord…

• This past week he was in the hospital mostly all week. He had a stomach ulcer that was bleeding out in his stomach and so it was surgically removed. He was in the hospital from Tuesday through Friday, home on Friday…and once he got home he wrote me this.

• "Let me tell you when you have medical conditions like I have, it is so obvious that the Lord is with you. I know He always is but in times like this there are signs that become much more clear. We need to thank Him every day for His blessings."

• We pray for blessing. For good health and good fortune. For a new job and a new house. A car that doesn’t need prayer to get to and from work. A house that doesn’t need repair. Yet could it be, a different perspective, that the material blessing and provision is actually quite a hindrance to the sufficiency and freedom that is to be found only in Jesus through desperation and simplicity? Amazing perspective…

• The connection between power and simplicity is undeniable in this scripture set…each day they’d be dependent upon God to provide for them and for that reason, how much more powerful their testimony? How much more powerful their encouragement to one another in reminding each other of God’s love? And if they went hungry, they hungered together. If they went cold, they had each other to keep warm…oh the eternal practical nuggets of truth packed into these short verses!

Mark Chapter 6 Verse 14

• Notice whose name had become well known? Peter? James? John? Joel Osteen? Joyce Meyer? TD Jakes? No! It was Jesus. Isn’t that daunting? As the disciples were moving through the crowds, the homes, the gatherings, the groups, the hospitals…the places…it was the name of Jesus that was being lifted high…not their own. When they ministered, all of the attention went to Jesus!

• And this Herod…this is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great who was the architect of the second temple in Jerusalem. This guy was nuts, horribly evil and wrought with foolishness. It’s also recorded that he was 4’9" tall so major little man complex which always includes an essence of extreme paranoia. He killed many of his wives and even his own sons thinking that they were conspiring against him.

• This is also the Herod that killed John the Baptist but Mark covers that story in detail in just a moment. Now some folks said it must be Elijah. Why? 400 years ago, Malachi prophesied right at the end of his book that before the Messiah comes, God will send Elijah the prophet to call the people to turn…but Jesus cleared it up for us in Matthew 17:11 and 12 that it was John who had come in the spirit of Elijah fulfilling Malachi’s prophecy.

• Then some said that He must be like one of the prophets…shooting too low but I understand. It had been 400 years since God had spoken through a prophet…then others said that Jesus is THE Prophet. These folks got it right. Wait Matt, Jesus wasn’t a prophet, a good man, a homeboy, a co-pilot…I know, settle down battle-cat…

• It’s all the way back in Deuteronomy 18…beginning in verse 15 to the end Moses prophesies to the children of Israel in the wilderness and says, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren…Him you shall hear…" Now Moses did not say prophets, which would certainly come but he said a specific Prophet…one that would have the Word of God…now turn over to Acts Chapter 3 verses 17 – 26…

• Peter’s great sermon. You see most of the people were off…He’s Elijah, He’s John the Baptist, He’s a prophet…but the folks that knew their scriptures…they got it right man…He is THE Prophet…and let me tell you that is always the case…the folks that know the Word of God…know what’s going on when they turn on the news…know the motives of the enemy when God’s name is used in vain in a conversation by someone…they know the signs man…they interpret the times…they know what to do…and they are still, strong, resourceful and successful man just like Psalm 1 says…

• And this will be even more important soon…as in the last days Jesus said many will come and say "I am He" and many will be deceived not discerning the times…but not you…and He said that the coming of the Son of Man will be as a thief in the night for some…take some by complete surprise and cause complete terror…but not you…not so for those who know the Word of God…they will see it coming from a mile away…so know the Word man…I cannot stress that enough…know the Word, and you will know peace…no knowledge of the Word…no peace…simple as that!

Mark Chapter 6 Verses 16 – 29

• Notice the end of the person that Jesus called, "the greatest prophet that ever lived." Beheaded. Alone in a prison at the command of a little girl. Tell me how that fits into the false message of prosperity that is being preached in today’s church? What good is it if a man gains the whole world, yet loses his own soul?

• Who are you? Herod…or John. Herod had it all. He was king. If he didn’t have it, he took it. Yet today he is eternally separated from God. John had nothing. Gave everything to save others and to preach Jesus…died a martyrs death…yet today lives forever in glory. Which do you choose? Herod lost his soul…the eternal truth…he was and forever will be…a loser. John knew the truth and counted this world as nothing and Jesus as everything…and for that he was and forever will be…the greatest of the prophets…