Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Mark 8:14-21.  Let’s go!

Mark 8:14-21 (NIV)
14  The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.
15  “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
16  They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
17  Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
18  Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?
19  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied.
20  “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.”
21  He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
 
The disciples were concerned about how they had forgotten to bring bread with them on the boat (v14).  So when Jesus says, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod” (v15), the disciples immediately assume that Jesus is talking to them about how they had no bread (v16).  But Jesus wasn’t rebuking them for not bringing bread.  Jesus was warning them not to be influenced by “the yeast”, that is the unbelief, of the Pharisees and that of Herod. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Mark 7:31-37.  Let’s go!

Mark 7:31-35 (NIV)
31  Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.
32  There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.
33  After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.
34  He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).
35  At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
 
On verses 31-35:  At first glance, to us reading these verses today, the steps Jesus took to heal this deaf and mute man might seem strange.  But keep in mind that Jesus would often touch people as a part of healing them.  He would often look to heaven while praying.  He would sigh out of compassion and sometimes frustration.  So perhaps it’s just the spitting part that throws us off.  One theory is that using saliva was common in ancient healing stories.  Another theory is that before speaking the words “Ephphatha!”, Jesus was using actions and sign language to tell this man that Jesus was about to heal him; that way this man would know what Jesus was about to do and have the opportunity to believe that Jesus could do it.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Mark 7:14-23.  Let’s go!

Mark 7:14-23 (NIV)
14  Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
15  Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’
17  After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
18  “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?
19  For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)
20  He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’
21  For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
22  greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
23  All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.'”
 
On verses 14-23:  The kind of unclean Jesus is referring to here is about being unclean before God.  God is so perfectly holy and pure that nothing impure or “unclean” can stand in His presence.  That’s why the Pharisees and teachers of the law focused so much on cleanliness, washing their hands, their cups and their dishes, all under the belief that those who washed were clean before God whereas those who didn’t were unclean.  Jesus clarifies that it is not what enters a person from the outside that makes him spiritually unclean; rather it is what comes out of that person’s heart – the sin that is already there – which makes him unclean. 

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Mark 6:45-56.  Let’s go

Mark 6:45-46 (NIV)
45  Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
46  After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

On verses 45-46:  Here we see Jesus’ heart for his disciples, how he lets them go on ahead of him by boat so that they can get some rest while he dismisses the crowd…OR was Jesus intentionally sending them into a storm to teach them a lesson?  Hmm.

Either way, what we do know for sure is that at the end of the day Jesus goes to a mountainside to pray.  Jesus knew that the rest he needed most was rest for his soul, so he spends it alone with the Father, the only one who could fully refresh his spirit.  Likewise, there is no physical food, no party and no ministry high that can replace being close with the Father.