36 Days to Meet Jesus: Day 5

Mark 2:18-28

What can I learn about the Sabbath from Jesus?

Mark 2 is the first time that we see Jesus not conforming to the religious norms of His day. He eats with "sinners," He doesn't fast, and He eats food on the Sabbath.

None of these are "acceptable" to the Pharisees and the other Jewish leaders. Jesus is breaking Jewish traditions.

I know for me, there are many traditions within the Church and within my church. Some of which are Biblical, so of which are merely traditions.

I think Mark 2 is a chapter focused on the fact that Jesus didn't come to keep status quo. Jesus didn't come to keep religious traditions. Jesus came to demolish religion and it's traditions.

What can I learn? I think the biggest thing I can learn is that some religious traditions can (and should) be discontinued. But in the same vein, there are many traditions that are Biblical and should be continued.

I think that I need to spend some time seriously searching the Scriptures to find out what the Bible says and what we have added on.

36 Days to Meet Jesus: Day 4

Mark 2:1-17

What can I learn about friendship today?

As many of you may know or maybe you don't, this is one of my favorite Bible passages. The stories of the paralytic's 4 Friends and Levi/Matthew's calling to be a disciple.

Both stories give clear insight to what ministry MUST be. Whether ministry is "dragging" our friends to Jesus or having a party with Jesus invited, our ministry/my ministry needs to be bringing people to Jesus.

God has put people into my life that don't know Him. It is my job/purpose as a Christian to share my faith with them.

The 4 friends went through many obstacles to get their friend to Jesus. Levi just had dinner with Jesus and invited his co-workers and buddies.

So, what can I learn about friendship? Friendship needs to be purposeful. Having friends isn't the goal. The goal is to share Christ with my friends.

36 Days to Meet Jesus: Day 3

Mark 1:29-45

What can I learn from Jesus' prayer life?

Mark 1 is a crazy, busy chapter. In 45 verses, there are 7 stories about Jesus and He goes from simple carpenter to country-wide celebrity.

And in the middle of it all, what happens? Jesus gets up in the morning and spends time with God. The most famous man in history made it a priority to (1) pray and (2) get alone.

At this point in Jesus' life, the entire area is chasing Him around everywhere. In fact, He can't even stay in cities because people won't leave Him alone. But He doesn't let the "busy-ness" interfere with His relationship with God.

I am just a simple youth pastor and I let my (so-called) "busy-ness" interfere with my relationship with God... waaaayyy to often. I have my excuses. And they are all terrible.

- I'm tired in the morning (says the guy whose alarm clock goes off at 8:30)
- I'm busy at night (watching TV from about 7 pm until I fall asleep)
- I'm too busy at work (but not too busy to check Facebook at lunch and during breaks)

It's all a matter of priorities. Is my relationship with God a priority?

Why is it that I have no trouble listening to a sermon by Matt Chandler or Francis Chan for 45 minutes, but taking 15 to pray is so hard? Why do I live vicariously through other's relationships with God?

That's a lot of thinking and praying to do today... so I'm going to stop typing and start doing just that.

36 Days to Meet Jesus: Day 2

Mark 1:14-28

What is one way that I can be like the disciples today?

The story of Jesus calling His disciples has always amazed me. It has also puzzled me. Think about it...

This random guy walks up to your boat and says "Follow Me... I'm the Messiah!" What is 99% of our response? "Ummm... NO!!!"

It's not like Jesus was famous at this time. Maybe the disciples had seen Jesus' baptism. I'm not completely sure what they were thinking, but 1 thing I know... this was completely an act of the Holy Spirit.

These disciples were not robots waiting to their whole lives for Jesus to walk by their boats. These were normal, everyday, working-class guys with lives and jobs and families.

But, when Jesus asked them to follow, they followed immediately. I need to be ready and willing to follow Jesus whenever or wherever He calls me.

36 days to Meet Jesus: Day 1

Well, I'm back blog readers... I think that at least 3 people used to read these things.

I'm starting a new mission. This one involves the teens from our church. We started yesterday with a 36 day "devotional" to get to know Jesus better.

The idea came to me when I was thinking about how we all know some things about Jesus. We have heard stories of some miracles. We have heard about the crucifixion and the resurrection. But how many of us truly know the Jesus of the Bible.

So, our youth ministry is taking 36 days to read through Mark. Each day there are 10-25 verses and 1 question to answer.

I'm going to be keeping up online as well as in the booklet.

Mark 1:1-13

What can I learn from John the Baptist today?

John the Baptist has always been a favorite Bible character of mine. He is kind of the first ever "pastor" in the Bible.

Here in Mark, we see him getting really popular. It says "the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him." He is really, really popular.

Everybody is coming to listen to John. Everybody wants to experience his ministry. God is working through John the Baptist. It's awesome.

And the whole time, what is John doing? He is pointing to Jesus. He is talking about someone else. He is saying "there is One more powerful than I... the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie."

His humility is amazing. I know for me... if every teenager in the Claymont/North Wilmington area came to my youth group to listen to me and wanted to witness my ministry, I would think I was pretty awesome.

I would be writing books and leading seminars on how to be as good of a pastor as I am. I don't think I would have the humility to point teens to Jesus.

This is something I am still learning and must continue to improve. Humility is a weakness for me. (Just ask my wife)

I need to have the same humility as John. I need to point teens to Jesus and not point teens to Brent.