One of the unusual things here that we talked about was that in the previous verse he tells her, “Your sins are forgiven.”  Which blows everyone away.  Why? Because no one on earth has the ability to forgive sins.  Only God could forgive sins.  But, here is this Rabbi that is traveling through the country-side, doing miracles, forgiving people of sins.  This was the calling card of the one destined to come, the Messiah.  Kind of like the Jewish Superman.

But there is also this cool, underlying meaning, behind another phrase that only the Messiah could have gotten away with…”Go in Peace”.

You see, everyone in the world is at odds with God until they confess sins, repent (to turn away from there sins), and believe that Jesus died for them and accept that sacrifice.  Scripture states that we cannot serve two masters.  The world is in direct defiance of its creator.  Because of this we are against God and He cannot be for us, nor turn His wrath away, until we come to His terms.  By the way I do not think that God is out to get you until you become a Christian but we cannot live with God, neither now or in eternity, until we surrender to Him.

To, “Go in Peace.” Means that Jesus was stating to this woman that she was no longer at odds with God.  She was safe and now in His care.  She didn’t have to think about an eternity away from Him.  She could live the rest of her physical existence in peace.

As someone that has experienced this I would urge you to seek God and make this peace with Him.  At Oak Leaf we are here to talk about this with any one but we want you to know you can do this on your own.  But if you want to talk you can contact me and we will talk about how you too can have the peace that this lady had.

Jesus had been preaching to this crowd of people for several days and the disciples were getting impatient, hungry and tired. The disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away, because they had nothing to offer for these people to eat. Jesus knew there had to be something, so he asked the disciples if there was any food around. There was a little boy who carried 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, so the disciples told Jesus. You know they had to laughing inside, thinking that would not even fill the group of disciples, let alone the massive crowd. The boy gave up his food and Jesus blessed it. They began passing it around and more and more loaves and fish appeared. By the time everyone had eaten, there were baskets still left of bread and fish!

There are so many things we can learn from this story, but here are 3 main ideas that speak to me:

• Meeting a Need: Jesus did not want to turn away people without meeting their physical needs first. He had been feeding them spiritually and the time came for him to feed them in the literal sense. Serving others is the best way to communicate God’s love to them. Acting on the Gospel solidifies and enforces you speaking the Gospel.
• A Little Goes a Long Way: The disciples did not think that such a small amount of food could affect such a mass of people. God gives us gifts, and while we may thing our ability to serve or sing or speak is so small, He can still use it for a massive impact! Even one person that is affected with what God has blessed you with is a huge win in thinking about eternity! This kind of small effort creating a large impact is happening now. As the effects of the earthquake in Haiti have devastated people so much, it’s as simple as Americans sending a text to donate money. Millions of dollars have been donated to meet the needs of Haitians because of a small effort.
• Unexpected Avenues: Jesus uses those that you would not expect Him to use. Not all of the accounts say where the loaves and fish came from, but the passage in John says that the loaves and fish were from a boy. Many parents will say that having a child changed their entire perspective on life and that they feel as if they learn more from their children than the other way around. God can use the younger generation to impact the masses. He is in so many ways already. Spend some time with a child or a student and truly listen to their take on the world and what they believe they can offer, it will give you some perspective!

Jesus clearly illustrates what an eternal perspective looks like in Matthew 6:19-20 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves.” In this scripture we are reminded that life here is temporary and most of the things we spend our time and money on will one day go to waste. For this reason Jesus calls us to make decisions with how we spend our time and our money in light of eternity. Therefore, I would challenge you to ask yourself with every decision you make: Will this have an eternal impact? Whether it is “Should I go out to eat with my friends?” or “Should I buy a larger house?”. I am confident that as you do this you will really begin to align your life and perspective with the way Jesus teaches us to live.

considering the fact that Michael talked about the miracles that Jesus performed this past weekend I wanted to give you a quick and easy way to search and learn more for yourself about Jesus and the miracles He performed while alive as a man. Check out the link below and dive in!

Miracles of Jesus

Christians don’t necessarily need physical reminders on their body to live for God. It has to be an attitude of the heart. If the Christian is truly a Christian then he becomes the ‘physical marker’ for the rest of the world to see (what we are called to do). We are the pictures of Jesus to those without Him.

So…How do we get to this point? Let’s look at something that was said this weekend.

This past week at Oak Leaf Michael was giving a picture of some of the different miracles that Jesus performed and possibly what could have been His reasoning behind them. One of the miracles we said showed Jesus as the great healer and that was when He healed the blind man. But before He healed Him he asked Him a question, “What do you want me to do?” Of course the guy answers, “I want to see.” And, I think Jesus was wanting to see where the guy’s heart was as was he ready to be healed and give up a life of dependency on others for help.

You see, I think this is the very question that we are we posed with every time we come into communication with God. I think that through all the prayer requests, expressing of needs and desires, and the praising of our God that their should be this quiet moment where we should stop and word this question in our heads as if Jesus was right in front of us asking it, “What do you want me to do?”

I think I know the answer…

While I was sitting there listening to that story I imagined what would I say if He, Jesus, looked me in the face and asked the same question. I mean, what would be the one thing that I would ask for that would make my world different. What is the one thing thing that is such a desperate need that only a miracle of the Son of God could help? Here’s my answer: “I want what you want, so help me to do whatever it is you want me to do.”

Now seriously, I didn’t give this answer to be like ‘ ooouuu, he’s so holy’ but to say that when Jesus asks you what do you want, and you have realized the full implications of the gospel on your life, the only thing you can say is, ‘it’s not what I want Jesus but what do you want?’ It doesn’t matter if a loved one is dying, or there is a natural disaster, your family is starving, or your in fear of losing your house. The only thing that matters is doing the will of God. Because in His will you are content, you are safe, and you are accomplishing your life’s purposes. The benefit of this is that often when you are in God’s will your prayer requests become fewer and you understand the world a little better because your will is aligning with God’s.

Jesus taught us to pray this way Himself in the Lord’s Prayer “…‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come… Luke 11:2 NIV then we are showed that this was His greatest desire in life, to fulfill God’s will. Check out His prayer before He died, very powerful. I am lucky enough to be teaching on the Lord’s Prayer the 21st of Feb if you want the full explanation.

Please take the time and ask yourself, today, what you would ask for. It will tell you where you are at in your relationship with God and the condition of your heart. Are you ready yet to let your desires go for what He wants from you?

Forgiveness is something I struggled with for a long time. I held grudges, even about petty things. The Lord began working in my heart several years ago on this subject and I started to evaluate my life and the grudges I was holding. Now as I think back on that I find it funny that it was so difficult for me to forgive. I think about all the things I’ve done wrong in my life and how quickly the Lord forgives me. We’re called to live our lives like Jesus, yet something so simple as forgiveness is a challenge.

I remember reading this verse: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” -Matthew 6:14-15

How powerful is that?

So, my question for you… who do you need to forgive? It doesn’t matter if it’s something that happened 20 years ago or yesterday. It could be an old friend or family member. It could be that you need to forgive yourself for some things you’ve done. The weight that will be lifted when you choose to forgive is so great. Don’t wait any longer. Find that forgiveness now and live a forgiven life in return from our Father. What a blessing that is!

He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never traveled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three

His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth

When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life

By Dr. James Allen Francis

Today was a good day at Oak Leaf….But tonight, was a GREAT night at home!

As a family we all sat down, just like Jesus did when he taught, and read the first part of Chapter 5 of Matthew.

Here’s what made it great:
* Cheese popcorn, a must for theological study.
* No tv!
* Talked about what does it mean to be blessed (get to that in a moment:))
* Prayed as a family after wards….Nice.
* Lastly, I got to be the Rabbi for my family. Fathers, it is what you were made for!

OK, so you will notice that in the beginning part of that Chapter Jesus keeps saying “Blessed is the one…” So just like tonight let’s explain that word a little so we know what Jesus is saying to us.

Blessed come from the Greek word ‘Makarios’ and other than meaning ‘blessed’ it basically means ‘happy’.

So basically Jesus was really teaching about living backwards (get use to that phrase you are going to be hearing a lot of it). He was saying through those first verses that if you are my disciple then you would be happy if you are going through the troubles of the world for my sake. He was stating an opposite of the world which says pursue happiness at all cost.

This is what we are taught now in our culture. The pursuit of happiness is not just your ‘right’ but should be your highest goal. And it is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone. Unfortunately, that’s an impossibility. Usually in our quest for happiness we hurt others, ourselves, and God. Our pursuit of self satisfied happiness is called sin.

Jesus understand that the only way for us to be happy is to put our focus on Him. Then, sometimes that happiness is not ultimately fulfilled until we are reunited with Him. But, for a follower of Jesus that is enough. Is it enough for you?

11 “God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.”
Matthew 5:11&12 NLT

As I was preparing to teach on the Sermon on the Mount from Luke 6, I came across a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, preached on April 4, 1954 in Montgomery, Alabama.  It was one of the best sermons that I’ve ever read.  In his conclusion, he said…

“My friends, if we are to go forward we must go back and find God.  We must put God back into the center of our thinking.  Television and automobiles, subways and airplanes, dollars and cents can never be substitutes for God, for long before any of these came into being, we needed God and after they will have passed away, we will still need God.”

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about a different way to live.  Some might even call it backwards.  He says that the poor will be blessed.  He says the persecuted will be comforted.  He challenges us to focus on giving, instead of getting, even to those who could be called our enemies.  He repeatedly says, “You’ve heard this…but I’m telling you that….”

Culture tells us that we need more to be happy. Jesus suggests we might need less.  We must return to the roots of our faith and discover again what it means to simply follow Jesus.