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Why Miracles Happen?
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Lesson Eighteen: by turtle
Mark 9:35-42 KJV
(35) And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first,
the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
(36) And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his
arms, he said unto them,
(37) Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall
receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.
(38) And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he
followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
(39) But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name,
that can lightly speak evil of me.
(40) For he that is not against us is on our part.
(41) For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to
Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
(42) And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that
a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
It seems it is very easy to offend people that you do not know. It is easy to offend people that you
do not realize are around. And it seems to be a trend. I went a few months back looking for
answers about a particular belief. And some how my world got changed. If God did something in
the world praise Him for it.
This lesson is not the last lesson, I think we got about two more. Or two more that I am going to
do anyway on this subject. This lesson though it doesn’t have a miracle per say in it. It has a
point that needs to be address in today’s society. It address the subject of tolerance. One of
the freedoms of American citizens. An extremist is someone that will not allow someone to have a
freedom of choice. It is found in certain societies that often take the rights of their people away. It
filters down to the people in these societies, but it starts at the government level. America was
found on basic alienable rights. Certain freedoms to all people despite race or religion. It has
taken time to get old bigotries out of our nation and we are still working on it. Women are still
oppressed in some areas of our nation. Racism still exists in some circles and religious intolerance
a problem in some areas. But the problem is it filters down to those who are teaching these things.
For me Christ is the only way. I do not believe everyone has to agree with me, but that is what this
site is about. It is about Jesus and faith in Him. I tried to stress the point it is a choice to believe
in Christ. It is a freedom given to us. Of course I also believe in consequence to not belief in Jesus.
But here is the truth. I believe people need to be informed. And to make there own decisions on
what they believe. For me the Bible is the inspire word of God. I try and teach what basic
principals of my faith is about. Most Sunday school and lay ministers do this. What happens
though is people are not always as understanding of choice in the religious realm. And if you force
anyone to believe what you believe it can cause chaos in the world.
I will continue to teach straight from the Bible with helps of commentaries and other sources when
they are available to me. I do not usually quote a commentary, but if I do I do site source.
Otherwise I explain things in my own words as I understand them.
The scripture today is about the fact others where performing miracles in the name of Jesus. The
disciples did not know these people. In fact they wanted to stop them. Those that are for you can
not be against you. But what if a wolf in sheep clothing comes about. It does happen. In fact the
world is seeing more and more wolves. They are usually after one thing money and nothing more.
They are out to destroy the church. There is a difference in wolves and shepherds. One must be
aware of them. This passage does not address wolves. I do address wolves in the lessons about the
Holy Spirit.
There are a lot of different Christian groups that are not about destroying the faith but uniting
people in fellowship. Every church in the world despite denomination has it own prejudice. It own
doctrines, but there are some things that do unite Christians. I belong to a group called the AFMC
(Association of Fundamental Ministers and Churches). Don’t let the word fundamental mess
with your head if you are a conservative or liberal, but I am sure the term could mess with a few
fundamentalist. The term is about teaching both Old and New Testament about the Bible. Most
churches do that. Just like most churches believe in the trinity. Most believe in salvation of Jesus
Christ. The group I am with is about fellowship. Just being friends with others in the faith despite
doctrinal beliefs.
There is a purpose to my madness this morning, and it is not to promote the group I am with but
they got a free promotion anyway. And I am sure if I need correcting on any part I will be. But
the point is Christians have been knocking each other for centuries. Catholics, Protestants,
Pentecostals/ Charismatic and Independents. The truth is the war needs to stop. We need to
combine our efforts to share the truth about Jesus and his love and his salvation. When we show
bigotry we show hate. Hate is not of God. It is not God. Love is of God. God is love.
Churches world we need to stand together in the name of Jesus. Stand and teach tolerance even
with our difference. We need to work toward loving others. That is what, it is all about. We get so
stuck in our doctrinal meats that we can not find any milk. Milk is what we all need to grow. It
keeps our bones healthy for life. Okay I do not like real milk so they make calcium tablets now,
oh well i do not take them either. But I like other milk products. So I am still getting milk. The
church world is like that. Finding tha church that will love you and accept your differences. If you
are not happy in one church or group then find the one that you like, but one thing you should
use as a guide are they teaching fundamental truths out of God's word.
Beware of the wolf and teach the truth always in love. hugs turtle
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