{"id":37372,"date":"2025-09-16T22:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=37372"},"modified":"2025-09-09T14:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T21:39:52","slug":"mark_14_1-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark_14_1-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Aspects of God-Honouring Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 14:1-11.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 14:1-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.<\/em>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0\u00a0 In Matthew 14:1-11 we see three groups of people: (1) those who have never been with Jesus, don\u2019t understand Jesus and are looking to eliminate him (e.g. the chief priests and teachers of the law \u2013 v1-2); (2) those who are closer to Jesus and committed to honouring Him (v3-8); and (3) those who have committed their lives to Jesus before but end up leaving him (v10-11).\u00a0 It\u2019s from this second group, in particular the woman with the alabaster jar, that we learn seven important truths about what worship is.<\/p>\n

Worship is costly.<\/strong>\u00a0 Worship is costly in two ways.\u00a0 First, like an alabaster jar of perfume that would be broken, Jesus sacrificed his body, allowing his body to be broken and his blood poured out, like a perfume, for our benefit.\u00a0 He did this so that we could have access to God and worship Him.\u00a0 Before you ever paid any price to worship God, Jesus paid the highest price.\u00a0 Second, worship is costly in that when you worship you\u2019re giving something from you that is precious.\u00a0 As David would say, \u201cI will not sacrifice to my God that which costs me nothing.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the worship exchange: Jesus gave His life for us, and we in turn give our lives to Him in worship.<\/p>\n

Worship is personal.<\/strong>\u00a0 The offering this woman gave was highly personal.\u00a0 If it doesn\u2019t come from a personal place in you, from your heart, it\u2019s not worship (see Mark 7:6).<\/p>\n

Worship is intimate.<\/strong>\u00a0 Just as this woman had to draw near to Jesus to give her sacrifice, so it\u2019s tough to worship God from afar.\u00a0 You need to come close to God to worship Him.\u00a0 God loves our worship not just because He wants to be praised, but because He wants to be close to us.\u00a0 Worship is how we get intimate with Jesus.<\/p>\n

Worship is courageous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>It took courage for this woman to do what she did.\u00a0 She risked being misunderstood or laughed at, and she was.\u00a0 But this woman cared more about giving Jesus honour than how she looked in front of people.<\/p>\n

Worship is honouring Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cShe has done a beautiful thing to me\u201d Jesus says in verse 6.\u00a0 Worship is all about giving Jesus the honour, the glory, the praise and the adoration He deserves.\u00a0 It might not always make sense to others (v4-5), but it\u2019s not about them.\u00a0 It\u2019s about Jesus.<\/p>\n

Worship is time sensitive.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cThe poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.\u00a0 She did what she could.\u201d (v7-8)\u00a0 Worship is seizing the moment to give God honour even when you could be doing other things.\u00a0 It\u2019s you saying, \u201cThis moment with You now is more important than anything else I could be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worship is witness.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.\u201d (v9)\u00a0 Jesus was right.\u00a0 This woman\u2019s act of worship is now a part of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke which have been read all over the world for thousands of years.\u00a0 When you worship Jesus well, God sees it and God will use your worship to lead others to Him.<\/p>\n

Mark 14:10-11 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-11:\u00a0 Whereas the woman with the alabaster jar sacrificed what she had financially for a closer relationship with Jesus, Judas sacrifices his close relationship with Jesus so that he could gain financially.\u00a0 Guess who made the right choice.\u00a0 What are you doing to Jesus today?<\/p>\n

Thank You Holy Spirit for teaching us what worship is through the example of this woman.\u00a0 Jesus You are worthy of worship that is costly, personal, intimate, courageous and honouring.\u00a0 May I please You with the worship I give.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN<\/em>!<\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 14:1-11.\u00a0 With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 14:1-9 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0“But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.”<\/p>\n

On verses 1-9:\u00a0\u00a0 In Matthew 14:1-11 we see three groups of people: (1) those who have never been with Jesus, don\u2019t understand Jesus and are looking to eliminate him (e.g. the chief priests and teachers of the law \u2013 v1-2); (2) those who are closer to Jesus and committed to honouring Him (v3-8); and (3) those who have committed their lives to Jesus before but end up leaving him (v10-11).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37375,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37372\/revisions\/37375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}