Christmas party!

On Wednesday, December 17th, we will be having our Impact Christmas party!

When?
during our normal impact times, from 6:30-8:30

What will we do?
We will be having a short devotional, singing some songs together, and then having our annual white elephant gift exchange. If you have not done this before with us, what we do is all bring in a small (Very small, $1 or so) gift, wrapped, and you will put it in a pile, and through the course of the game, get the another present in exchange. Mostly we are looking for gifts that would be funny or goofy. You can bring a nice one, if you want! If you don’t have time to get one, don’t worry, we will have extra gifts on hand! But if you can, bring something out! Maybe someone will get stuck with whatever you bring!

You are also welcome to bring a snack or baked good for us to feast on, and a donation for our sponsored child.
Who is planning on being there?!

Service Project!

On Saturday, December 13th, High Impact and Impact 678 will be combining for a service project. We will meet at the Firehouse at 10 AM and begin working on 2 projects. 1 team will be tasked with shopping for and wrapping presents for a family that has a great need. We will probably split the shopping team into guys and girls and let them shop for their own gender (that way they get things that people will actually like :). The other team will stay at the Firehouse (and church) and bake cookies to make trays for our neighbors that we will deliver later in the day. We will be done around 2:00.

Here is what we need from you:

1. We need to know if you will be in attendance.
2. We need cookie dough! In order save time and mess, we are asking the parents if they would be willing to send a batch of dough. If so, let us know what kind of cookies - we try to keep the variety limited. I recommend chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, chocolate with peanut butter chips, something traditonal. If you have your heart set on something else, I guess that's ok :)
3. We need baking supplies! If your parents are willing to send cookie sheets, cooling racks, spatulas, etc. that would be great. we understand the fear of not getting those things back, so we will be sure to keep a close inventory of them.


Please email us as soon as possible and let us know in what ways you or your children will be involved. If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks so much!

Concert!

Hey guys! We are going to the Shane and Shane concert, December 5th! Cost is $12. We are leaving at 4:30. We need to know who is going by this coming Wednesday so we can order tickets, so leave a comment if you are going. Details are here-
http://www.itickets.com/events/211298/Barnegat_NJ/Shane_and_Shane_Christmas_Tour.html

Hope you can come!

Waking up to the war

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Mk 8:31-33

Are you asleep tonight?

Asleep to what? What does this video mean? Children in chains? A hero coming and calling out to us to wake up, to fight a war. A hero who suffers to wake us up and set us free. Are you awake?

And how does this video relate to this text? Is there sleeping in this text? Is there someone who needs to be awakened and fight a war?

Yes. This text is about war. This text is about Jesus fighting the war that He is here to fight, and Peter missing it.

What is the war?

I want you to see how this text in Mark speaks of a war, and calls us to wake up to it. But let me explain something first, follow me while I give you a lot of info before we get into this text.

There is a war. The Bible speaks of a war that is going on all the time. That is why we are called soldiers as Christians.

Listen, Christian, you are called a soldier, do you realize that? Your goal is fighting, and fighting well. Too often we spend too much time talking about how others like or don’t like us, how others are serving us poorly, all kinds of silly things. Our goal is war.

Twice in the bible Paul calls other believers “fellow soldiers” (Phil 2:25, philem 2)

Paul says to Timothy-

3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 2 Ti 2:3-4

We are soldiers. Why are we soldiers?

Soldiers are not needed in a time of peace, are they? You do not enlist soldiers for any reason but one- war.

And we are told we have an enemy. The bible speaks of an enemy, not an enemy of flesh and blood, but one that is unseen, but influencing the world around us, that in fact is called the “prince of the power of the air.” (eph 2:2) We need to realize there is an enemy that is wicked, and evil, and like a roaring lion, and we are to be taking up weapons against him.

This is the war I speak of, the war between God and the enemy.

The war is the enemy and his world system fighting to keep God from being loved, honored, and obeyed in you and those around you.

It is shocking to see how some believers live as if there is no enemy at all to be concerned about. The truth is, there is an enemy, and he is out to destroy you.

Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. That is what he was doing on earth, so says 1 john 3. He came to destroy the works of satan. You see, satan has been at work in the world to cause human beings to disbelieve God- to take their trust away from God, and place their trust instead in him, or in themselves. This would lead to the world being under the curse of death as a result of God’s wrath. Christ came to fight this war, to destroy the enemy, and he dealt the enemy a death blow at the Cross. The enemy was fatally wounded, and that is his condition now. But he is not yet dead. In the last gasps of breath he has before he dies he is still a powerful enemy against unaware Christians, and he is even more to those who are unbelievers, he is their father. Their slave owner. And we are here to continue the war that Christ started when he came to earth and lived and died and rose again.

Are you awake and involved in this war?

How much of your time do you spend on this war?

I will tell you now, you may not be awake, but you are involved. Your life is counting for one side of this battle, or the other. The enemy is working to dishonor God, and to kill those we love and bind them to hell forever, and you might be helping his cause. Are you awake?

Four things the enemy does not want you to know about the war

Let me share with you four things the enemy does not want you to know about this war.

And the first thing I want you to know, and the enemy doesn’t, is how you fight. And it relates to your heart, and all we have been talking about, concerning how your heart works. We have said that hearts do three things- they seek something of value, they give anything they can to get the thing of value that they see, and then they praise or make known the value of what they found. This, when done in relation to God, is what your heart is designed to do. It is also how you fight…

1- The way we fight the war is to live in such a way that we show off the value of Jesus Christ.

The first thing the enemy doesn’t want you to know how to do is how to fight. He wants you to get confused. He wants you to think that you fight by hating people. By just trying to follow rules. He has done this for years. Ever hear of the crusades? We are easily swayed into thinking that we can fight this war some other way then by showing the worth of Christ. But that is what we are called to do- you fight by showing off the worth of Christ. There is a word for this in the bible- it’s called be a “light.” We are to go into the world and show off the worth of Jesus to the world. That is light.

So how do we do that?

A- How do we show His worth? The way God has chosen to show off his worth is in the suffering of His children in His Name, for the world.

How do we do this? More about what this really looks like in real life in a bit, but for now, just understand that the means that God has chosen to fight this war, for us, is to suffer. The way we bring Christ to the world is to suffer in Christ’s name for the world.

How does suffering show Christ’s worth?

First of all, this should be easy to see. The things we suffer for are the things we love. Think about it- what have you suffered for? The best example I have of this is playing hockey when I was younger. We would play brutal games of hockey, and get tired and beat up and love every second of it. Suffering in that fashion was joyful, it was showing the worth of something- to me, hockey. Well, maybe more it was winning. But in any case, you see my point- we do suffer for what we treasure, and we do it with joy, and it shows the worth of that thing to us. So when we suffer for Christ, we display His worth.

There’s something more to it, too. Let me explain.

Paul says something really weird in Colossians. He says this-

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, Col 1:24

That sounds almost like blasphemy. What is lacking in Christ’s afflictions? And how does Paul think he can fix that? Well, it certainly isn’t that Christ’s sufferings lacked in that they were not enough. They were enough. So how do they lack?

The answer is found in Philippians, when Paul says the same thing about “completing what is lacking” in another context. He is talking about Epaphroditus, this guy who was bringing a gift from the Philippians to Paul. And Paul says that when he arrived, he completed what was lacking in the Philippians service to Paul. He says this-

25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.Php 2:25-30

What was lacking about the Philippians gift to Paul before Epaphroditus took it? Yes, only the presentation of it. He completed it by presenting it.

That is exactly how Paul was filling up what was lacking in Christ’s suffering. He was showing it to the world. The world has not seen the worth of Christ that you have seen, in that you know that Christ suffered for you. They don’t know it, they need to see it, and they will see it as WE suffer for them in His Name, they will see it in our persecutions and sacrifices. Understand, Christian, life on this earth will be suffering. It is the means by which God has chosen to show His worth. When others see us suffer for Christ, they will think “what is this Jesus that makes Him so beautiful to them, that they are willing to suffer for him?” And when we suffer for others, they will think “what drives this person to love like this?”

But why will our suffering for Christ bring war?

B- This will bring war because the enemy and his world system will always war against that which shows the worth of Christ.

While some will see our suffering and in that see the worth of Christ, most will see us showing off Christ and hate it. When we display Christ’s worth to the world, when we show He is more valuable to us than anything else, the world hates this.

Think- does the world hate this in you?

Remember I said that we are called to be lights?

20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. Jn 3:20

The world hates light because the world wants to forget about God, they don’t want to see His worth, they want you to join them in showing off the worth of the world.

Our tendency is to want to do this another way. Why suffer? Cant we do it some other way? No, it must be this way- we will have to show how much Christ is worth to us through our suffering. This must be because if we ever show off Christ’s worth- which is what we long to do, we will face persecution. Just imagine you fall in love with someone who everyone around you hates. Now, you have two choices- you can keep quiet about them, and never talk about them or show that you love them- which really wouldn’t be love, would it? Or you can express your joy in them and suffer for it. And then imagine you get together with them and they ask “why do you do this? It brings you such pain to talk about me and tell others you love me.” And you say, “but that even makes it more beautiful to do for you.” You see?

So, as long as we long to show off Christ, we will suffer, because the world will come against that, and try and keep it quiet.

But this works for our good- because as they try and keep us quiet about it, and we refuse, we will suffer more, and will be given by their refusal even more of a chance to show them Christ’s worth! This is just like the cross! Our refusal to honor Him gives him the chance to show off His worth even more!

Now, ask yourself- Is the enemy keeping you quiet? Are you showing off the worth of Christ?

2- The enemy wants you out of the war, and He will do that by leading you to set your minds on the things of men, and keep them off of the things of God.

This is what is happening in our text today. Peter is being pushed out of the war, and is even trying to push Jesus out of the war, by having his mind set on the things of men, and not the things of God.

What does that mean? One commentary suggests that this could be translated as ‘you are not concerned with what God wants but with what men want’ or ‘you are not thinking as God thinks, but as men think.’^[1]

This is helpful. Let me explain.

Peter here has just heard Jesus say that he will suffer at the hands of the leaders of the day, the very leaders he was challenging. And he says that they will kill him.

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. Mk 8:31

This death of suffering seemed, at best, well, undignified. Why would Jesus say this about himself? Surely he would never let such a dishonoring thing happen to himself, certainly he would not allow himself to suffer at the hands of men. God would never chose to forward his purposes through the suffering of the son, right?

32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Mk 8:32

This is man’s way of thinking. Even worse, it is satan inspired thinking. From the beginning the enemy was trying to get Jesus to give up his plan to suffer to save the world. That is not wise from our perspective, we want to avoid suffering at all costs. So the enemy says to Jesus from the beginning- “don’t suffer. Just use your power and do it differently. Just worship me and avoid the pain. Avoid the humiliation.”

This humiliation, this is what Peter wants to avoid. He would be ashamed to suffer like that, he does not want Christ to suffer like that.

And Jesus rebukes Peter harshly, and then he explains-

33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Mk 8:33-38

Thinking the way God thinks leads us away from wanting to just make friends with the world, but instead leads us to want to suffer to show off the worth of Christ. It leads us to do what would lead us to be mocked by the world, and humiliated.

Would you be willing, right now, to be humiliated in order to show Christ’s worth? The enemy wants to inspire you to think “no way”, but God’s way of thinking says “yes, that is the perfect way to show it.”

Man thinks this- “do nothing to lose the applause of the world. Do nothing to lose it’s friendship. Seek to be served, seek to be exalted.”

God thinks this- “cut yourself off from this world, and it’s friendship. Die to it. Live as a stranger here. Serve them, suffer for them, and show them how beautiful Jesus is.”

Will we seek to preserve our comfort and life, or will we spend ourselves for Christ?

The enemy would love to make you say “forget all this, let’s just relax and enjoy the world.” Or,
“let’s somehow find a way to show off Christ’s worth that will not cost us anything at all. Do I really have to do something difficult?”

Do you think that way? Do you seek to find a way to follow Christ without having to really suffer? Do you feel ashamed of Christ? Or do you embrace that shame, and wear it with honor?

3- You will not fight to show off the worth of Christ unless you see the worth of Christ.

How can you think that way? How can you change and want to suffer to show the worth of Christ?

The cool thing is you will want to do what is difficult to show off the worth of Christ if you really see the worth of Christ. It comes back to that heart change we have been talking about, it comes back to those three things that hearts do.

True love always lays down it’s life for the object of it’s love.

You need to understand that fighting this war without loving Christ most is not what is wanted today. Do you know what a mercenary is? It is a soldier who fights the war not because they believe in the cause of the war, but because they are hired to do it. They have no heart in it, they have no real desire to see one side win, they only want to be paid. Some of you may be like that, you are in this war, knowing you are supposed to be showing off Christ’s worth, but man, it’s hard to do because you don’t see His worth. You do it though because you want something from God. Or because you feel it the right thing to do. This will not work.
You must see the beauty and worth of Jesus Christ if you are going to join the war to fight back all the forces that seek to dishonor Him, and if you are going to live a life that shows His value to the world.

And now, what will I tell you you should do if you want to see His worth? Yes, you should know this by now. I will tell you to run to the Cross of Jesus Christ, and upon that Cross look to the one who suffered so shamefully for you. Look at Him there, dishonored, rejected by men, twisting on the cross in agony, cut off from the Father, bearing shame and sin, think of Him there in all his loneliness. How lonely the cross was, it is the most lonely place in the universe. There are none with him, none for him. He is alone, forsaken. He is forsaken for us, He is cut off for us. Go to the cross and see the Jesus who loved you while you hated Him, see the love that forgives those who persecute Him, see the Jesus who longs to bring you underserved mercy. See the Jesus who longs to remove all anger, so that you might be comforted.

Unless you see Him there, in all His beauty, dying in your place, unless you see that He is the truest desire of your heart, you will not live a life that shows his worth no matter how hard you try.

The enemy wants you to try and live a life displaying his worth but never really believing in it, because you will be a hypocrite, and you will drive many away. The enemy wants you to be frustrated, and follow rules, and try and act the part, but never really see Jesus.

4- you will always be missing the war unless you train your mind to see it.

Even when we see His worth, we will need to train ourselves to be fighting this war. It is just too easy to miss where the war is being fought, because it is unseen.

So let’s ask- what does it look like to show off the worth of Christ? Because that is what fighting is, right? So how can we do it, how can we see chances for it? What does this mean in real life?

What does the enemy want you to avoid doing?

What can we be looking for in order to see the war, and fight?

1- If you see people in need, serve them.

Friends, look for the needs around you. You can look for the needs around you, and then sacrifice of yourself to go and help. For instance, when was the last time you talked to someone at Impact that you didn’t know that well? Do you know how often you simply go to the person you want attention from and talk to them? Have you ever thought of how you can show off Christ by sacrificing what you want and helping someone else?
Or what about those in your life who are lonely? Or oppressed? Where is there injustice in your life? People being picked on? Prejudice? How can you step in and help? Let your heart break for those who are in need, and then go and help them. The problem is your mind is so trained to only be concerned for yourself, and so you miss the war. You could show Christ’s love by showing mercy to those in need around you. Do you want Him to be seen?

The amazing thing about our God is that he has called us to show Him to the world, and to fight this war, not by hating and harming, but by loving and serving. The way to fight the enemy and to win the battle is not to argue with every non Christian you see, but to love them enough to suffer with them, and then to share with them the hope that you have.

2- Do not be entertained by what Christ died to set you free from.

Christ died to set you free from lust, and profanity, and all sort of evil. Do you have places in your life where movies and songs and shows use such things to entertain, and you are entertained by them? How can you be entertained by the things Christ died for? How does that show His worth? It does not, it dishonors Him. When the world sees you avoid evil, you will suffer for it, but you will be able to tell them why.

But for many of you the world has trained you to think wrongly. You just accept evil, you think it’s ok to be close to it. You think it’s not a problem to love what the world loves. You need to repent of this, and use this as a chance to show Him off! Are you repelled by the things that dishonor God?

3- Fight sin with all your might.

You do not show Christ’s worth when you chose sin over Him. Remember, we sin when we believe that the pleasure of the sin is greater than the reward of obedience. And the reward of obedience is Christ! So when we obey we are saying “ I believe Christ is worth more than that pleasure, I believe He is more pleasurable. I believe He is more satisfying.” And in that we show His worth.

4- Seek after Him with all your might.

Remember, our hearts give up everything to get what we treasure most. Do your hearts do that? Does the world see you desperate to get to know God more? Does the majority of your time look like time that is spent seeking Him and His glory, or your own? Listen, just ask this question of what you are doing- “How does this show off the how much God is worth to me?” If you can not answer that about what you do, why are you doing it? Seek help to find a way to make it honor Him! But first, ask why you have done it. What has been the motive?

The way we fight the war is to live in such a way that we show off the value of Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Do you see it? You need to look at the chains the enemy is binding you with, and then turn and see Jesus, laying, bleeding, dying for you, and fall in love with Him, and grab the chains and pull them off, and fight! Are you willing to fight for His worth?

Are you ok living in a world that mocks Him? Will you join them, and mock Him as well, being entertained by what he died for, by showing off the worth of the same things that they live for?

Are you willing to lay down your life and fight for the cause of Jesus Christ?

---

^[1]Bratcher, R. G., & Nida, E. A. (1993], c1961). A handbook on the Gospel of Mark. Originally published: A translator's handbook on the Gospel of Mark, 1961. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (265). New York: United Bible Societies.

Message from Oct 29

Mark 8, 9:2-8

Seeing His glory

22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Peter Confesses Jesus As the Christ

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

34 And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

9 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

The Transfiguration

2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

Mk 8:22-9:8

Who likes a show off?

Typically we don’t like it when someone tries to show off. We look down on people who seek to make themselves look good all the time. When someone is trying to gain praise for themselves we are offended, aren’t we? In fact, we consider it a bad thing to be proud in that way. They are so self consumed, so wanting to see themselves exalted. Self-exaltation is not something good, is it? If someone came over your house and said “Let me do you a favor for the next hour. Let me talk to you about how great I am”, you would quickly find a excuse to end the visit. There is nothing worse than someone who is just all about themselves.

Now, if that is true, if we hate it when someone tries to gain praise for themselves, and see it as a bad thing, then when we come to God we should find Someone who never seeks praise for Himself, right? I mean, we don’t like it, it is looked down upon and even forbidden to gain our own praise. So God certainly is not all about just gaining his own praise, right?

But we find the opposite. Why? God is not just always, it seems, concerned about his own praise, but he seems to even demand that we praise him. What are these demands for praise? What kind of a God runs around saying “you better praise me, you better worship me, you better say nice things about me, you better say how good I am!”- what is that about? It could seem, well, kind of pathetic, couldn’t it? Why does He need our praise?

Here we have in this passage Jesus showing off His glory. Why? It’s an odd thing to do- “Come up here to the top of this mountain with me so I can show you how great I am.” Isn’t this exactly what we should not do? Why does He do it?

I want to explain to you why Jesus does this, and why this act here is one of the most loving things Jesus can do. It is not selfish, it is not unloving- this is extraordinarily loving of Him! Why?

Reviewing the truth about our hearts

Last week we talked about our hearts. We said or hearts all do three things. Do you remember?

1- they seek something of value to be near

2- they want to get more of that thing of value, and enjoy it, and will sell everything to get it.

3-they want to proclaim the greatness of the thing they find.

And I said that this is exactly what God created us for. He created you with hearts that work this way for a reason. Your hearts are built to seek value and want it and enjoy it and proclaim it.

In fact, I would say this- the greatest happiness any human can have, in fact the happiness you long for and try and get- is a happiness that comes from your heart doing these three things. You desperately want to be happy by finding something of value, getting and enjoying it, and proclaiming and singing it’s praises. You are made for this- you all are worshipers. You were made to be. You were designed to exalt the worth of valuable things.

What valuable thing this week did your heart show it was wanting, and near, and valuing?

What did you talk about?

What did you spend your time on?

What did you think about all alone?


These are the things our heart values, these are the things we worship. We value them, we enjoy them, we want to praise them. This is the design of our hearts.

The greater the value, the greater the joy

And get this; the greater the value of the thing you find, the more joy you will have in it, and in expressing it’s value. Think about that. For instance, there is a measure of joy in valuing baseball and being excited over a team doing well and praising that team. There is a greater joy in valuing a person that we are in love with, and gaining joy from being near them, and in talking about them, and that joy is much greater than the joy of valuing baseball! But what if we found something of the greatest value, of such a value that it made even the people we love seem insignificant and small? What if we could find that thing of great value, and enjoy it, and praise it?

And of course you know I am speaking of God- and this is what our hearts were designed to do. And if the amount of joy we will have is equal to the worth of the thing we are valuing, then the greatest joy we can have is if we have hearts that value God, and enjoy Him, and praise Him. You see this? It is life changing to get this!

So to sum up- we have hearts that long to find something of value, and get and enjoy that thing, and praise it. The greater the value of the thing we find, the greater the joy our hearts will have in getting and enjoying and praising it. God has the greatest value, so to have God as the object of our heart’s valuing, to have Him as our treasure, this would bring the greatest joy.

A loving thing to do – giving us Himself

So, keep thinking. If I really love you, if I really really do- what should I help you do if I want to see you really happy? Yes, I should help you see the value of God, so that you can value Him, want to get more of Him, enjoy Him, and praise Him. That is what I need to do. If you love those near you, if you really love them, what will you do? Will you help them value you most? Value lust most? Value popularity most? What will you help them value most? God, right? That would be the most loving thing you could do- to get them to tie their hearts to God- to get them to see the real value that He has, because for as long as they are setting their hearts on things much less valuable than Him, they are destined to never have joy as they were meant to have it. So, the most loving thing I can do, and you can do, is to try and show how valuable God is to others so that they set their hearts on Him and enjoy Him and praise Him. Right?!

So then, what is one of the most loving things that God can do?

You see, God is in a unique position. God knows that your heart was designed to find something of great value and enjoy it, and the greater the value of what it finds, the greater the joy that you will have, he knows that. And so if God seeks to make you happy, and then sets out to search the universe for the most beautiful, valuable thing He can find, what does he end up finding? Yes, Himself! So the greatest gift God can give you is Himself.

This is why it is good for Him to exalt Himself, but not good for you to do it. You are not that valuable, compared to God! It is wrong- even sick- to exalt ourselves and put ourselves in places to get others to latch their hearts to us. But it is not wrong for God to do it. God should do it- it would be unloving of God to give us anything but Himself. Think about that! The most loving gift He can give is Himself.

If a great chef came up with this really great recipe for this wonderful desert, and then decided they never wanted to share it, that would not be loving, would it? In the same way, God, when he sees that He is the most valuable thing in the universe, and that we have the greatest joy when we find the thing of the most value, would be unloving to hide from us His beauty.

He must show off His greatness to us, He must display His beauty. This is loving of Him.

We have this weird idea of love- we get the wrong idea that love is when someone makes a big deal over us- they love us when they make much of us. Think about it- when we do think someone loves us? They make a big deal over us, they think about us, they want to be with us, etc. But that is not true for God- for God it would be unloving of Him to make much of you. For God to love is to make much of Himself.
Taste and see!

This changes how you see God’s commands in the bible to worship. He is not a sad old man, wishing someone would say something nice about him. He is actually doing something nice for us when he commands us to worship Him, because a command to worship Him really is a command to enjoy Him! God is always working for His own glory-

9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger,

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off.

10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.

Is 48:9-11

25 “ I, I am he

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins.

Is 43:25

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Eph 1:4-6

And this working for His glory comes out in His commands as well- we are commanded to praise Him, to worship Him alone. From the commandment to have no other Gods before Him to the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

These are not the commands of a God who is afraid he will lose the love of those he needs and have no one left to praise Him! This is a God who is commanding us to do what will bring us the most joy- to enjoy Him! This is right- to admit His worth. This is just. Understand, it’s not just the fact that it is for our joy that he does this. He DOES really deserve to be honored, and as a just and honest God he MUST demand that we praise Him. To demand we praise anything else would be idolatry! But it wonderfully is not just the right thing to do- but He has set up the universe in such a way that the right thing to do is the thing that would bring us the most joy! It is for our joy!

Our heart’s long to do this, because this is where we will find joy-

11 You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Ps 16:11

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.

Ps 27:4

This is what we want- to find that which has the greatest value- Him! And then enjoy Him forever, and make Him known forever! And he invites us to enjoy Him! Do you see the love in this? When He puts on display his value, He is doing what is most loving!

Think of all the ways he has put in display His greatness! For you to enjoy it! Think of how the world around you constantly shows you Him! Think about the fact that He gives you His word to see Him in! Think about His Son coming to earth to reveal to us the Father! Think about this very night- God is at work to show you His worth, that you would be able to enjoy Him more!

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Ps 34:8

This is what we are called to do- taste, and see!

Having no taste for Him

But- what if you don’t see it?

What if we understand this, but when we look at God, when we taste, we don’t seem to find anything of all that much worth. This is where most of the world is. They see Him every day all around them in creation. They hear of His Son’s work. And they don’t see that he is good. What then?

All is not lost if that is you. You don’t see His value like you should? Neither did these disciples.

That is what this text is about tonight. And what God does in response. Look with me at Mark 8 and all that is going on.

First, we have Jesus feeding the crowds miraculously. After this, the Pharisees, who don’t see who Jesus is, demand a sign. As if the feeding was not enough. Jesus, in disgust, leaves them, telling them they will get no sign. He has just put on display His greatness, and they missed it- and they want him to perform for them. They cant see his value. They wont believe.

Next he gets into the boat with the disciples, and that is who this section is really all about. His followers don’t understand. He is in the boat and he warns them not to be like the Pharisees- he says “watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees.” They are confused, and Jesus says to them “Do you not yet understand?”

Then we have this really weird story- Jesus heals this blind guy, but it’s not normal. There he is, surrounded by the disciples, the disciples he just said still do not see who He is, they don’t see His true worth. And so he takes the blind man, and touches him- and he sees- but not completely-only in part. Then he touches him again, and the man is fully healed. This is just like the disciples- they see in part, but not all the way. This is shown in the rest of the section. Next, Jesus asks “who am I”, and Peter seem to get it right- you are the Christ. But then just sentences later is telling Jesus that he will never suffer on the Cross, and Jesus calls him satan. He still doesn’t see. He sees in part, but not the whole. He understands some of the worth of God, some of who Jesus is, but not the whole thing.
Seeing only in part

This is some of you- you see in part, but not completely. You understand it, and you believe it- but you don’t taste His goodness. Are you like that tonight? You see in part? You hear this talk about his value, and enjoying Him, but that part you don’t see. You see the part that he is God, and that He died for you, but there is no good taste, no real valuing?

Do you want to see the whole truth of who He is?

Understand, Jesus healed the man, and he saw in part. But how was he healed all the way? Yes, by Jesus! Jesus finishes the opening of the eyes.

And the same with the disciples-

He takes peter, James and John, and just literally shows them. He reveals His glory to them. He continues to show Himself to them, He continues to show His worth.

Jesus is this day willing to continue to put on display His value to you. The way to be healed of your blindness is to keep being exposed to His glory, until finally your eyes see it.

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.2 Co 4:4-6

The light is shining, he constantly shines it- keep seeking it out. He will open your eyes. Beg Him to do that tonight.

Look upon his value now-

Understand- God is so loving that he puts on display his worth to us- but not just that- we would be cut off from his worth forever. Just think of how sad it is that you right now might not even be able to see His worth, the worth of the one your heart is designed to see the worth of. How messed up we are! What penalty do we deserve for having spent our lives enjoying the value of other things, and thinking that He has little value at all? This has put us under his wrath. We are cut off from Him, separated because of sin.

The sad thing is, even if we see his worth, we cant do number two and three- we cant get more of Him and enjoy Him. We are cut off! We were kicked out of the garden- we can not get to the one who is most valuable- and so we can never get the thing that would bring us the most joy. Can you imagine what joy would be ours if we could get him- his worth is infinite- and so our joy would be infinite as well! And the amazing thing about the Cross, it isn’t that it gets us out of hell, it is that he brings peace between us and Him, so that we can once again have him- we can get to Him, we can have what our hearts now see the value of- we can enjoy Him forever!

The cross! The good news is that you don’t have to do anything to fix this, he does. And the very way he fixes it shows His worth! The fact that He would die for you while you did not value Him, this is love, because it shows off His worth! The Cross shows the worth of God- it puts on display how beautiful His love is, and his mercy, and his justice. And the Cross makes a way for you to have Him forever!

Keep looking!

Where is he at work to show you His worth? Are you looking for it? Are you trying to see it? For your joy, I beg you- look for it! Seek to see it! Have you even looked tonight?

Jesus is transfigured before us- He is showing His worth to us. Where can we go to see it? To His word! I beg you, friends, flee to His word, and seek to see his beauty and worth- seek to see Him! Look to the Cross and see how beautiful He is- then, let your heart go to Him, and believe the truth- the truth that He really is welcoming you to have more and more of Him forever, and to enjoy more and more of Him forever!

What a great gift He has given you! He has given you the greatest gift that could ever be offered to anyone- the most valuable thing in the universe is offered to you right now- Himself- and it is not free for Him, to offer it to you took the cross! This is the love of God! This is His value!

Taste and see that the Lord is good! And live in such a way that you show the world that you value Him most, and live in such a way that you help them value Him most too!

Long lost relatives!

Just a few highlights of the relatives found so far! Dont forget to send a few pictures to me if i dont have a good one of you yet! thanks!
Have fun- and remember, give thanks these are not real people! See if you can guess who was combined to make who!

What are we living for?

Living to show His worth

This is good, and sums up what we were talking about Wednesday night.

Take up your cross...

Upcoming events...

As the side bar shows, this friday night we have a hayride! It is at the Bowers home from 6:30-8:30 PM. We plan on meeting Every Friday night after this week at the Firehouse from 6:30-8:30 as well, for a time of hanging out together! I hope you can make it! Maybe we can write some new Impact songs (and raps!) together! hehe.

Your heart...

You might not read this, I don’t know. I pray you will. Not because it’s anything all that great or profound, but because it’s just so important for us to stop and think. You know we have been talking about our hearts this semester and what we put them close to, how often we are not careful with where they are, or even worse- don’t even stop to consider our hearts at all. So let me ask you- stop and consider- where is your heart right now? What, in the past 24 hours, was it closest too? Let me ask you a few hard questions. What made your heart excited in the past 24 hours? What made it happy? What made it soar? What did it hope in for happiness? What did it dwell on, what did it wait on, what did it beat for? What made it feel alive? And did any of those things have anything to do with the Savior?

Im not trying to make you feel bad. Not at all. I just want you to see how tricky this is. Our hearts do hope in lots of things, and sadly, we rarely are hoping in Christ. The world offers substitutes. Listen to me- those substitutes will break your heart. And worse, they cannot save you. They will not. They will lead to your death if you give them your heart.

Really, now be honest with yourself: Have the last 24 hours shown you that you love Him most? Have you been consumed with thoughts of Him, and desperate to show Him off to the world, to let the world see your love for Him? What has the world seen of you? Do you look just like them, living for the same things? Guys- where is your hope? I ask you because I love you, and I want you to have your hope securely in Him, the only safe place to put it.

Understand that you have not in these 24 hours loved him like you should. But you know what? He has still loved you. While you did not consider him worthy of your hope, He loved you. While you did not think about how to show him off, he was caring for you. He loves you, deeper than you could understand. Jesus Christ loved you while you hated him, and died for you, taking your place on the cross, being punished for your lack of love for God. Through Him you can be right with God. You will never be punished for your wrongs, He will take them for you. He will do this to make peace between you and God. Do you want peace with God, so that one day you will get to see His face, and be with Him forever? These are things we need to think about. I pray you will.
He loves you. Think about these words from Tenth Ave North…

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go


You can not be right with God by being good, or saying a prayer, or knowing the right facts about God. Only if you put your faith in Jesus, asking Him to let all your sin fall upon Him, and all His righteousness to fall upon you, can you be made ready to enter God’s presence. Only when you understand that you are completely unworthy of any love or good thing, and unable to satisfy God’s anger at you, and unable to be good the rest of your life, will you finally be willing to ask him to satisfy the anger, and ask Him to be good for you, that His perfect life would count for you. And when you really see how much He loves you, how much He has forgiven you, you will love Him- and living with all your hope in Him, and living to show His worth, it wont be a chore, it will be a joy. So tell me- what did you live for the past 24 hours? Or how about this- thinking about how much he loves you, what do you want to live for in the next 24?

Paul Washer's secret...

Boys- this week's plans...

Hey guys,
This week you will be meeting at the Firehouse at 6:30 for pizza and some hanging out. Bring $5 to cover the cost of dinner. Have fun!

Girls- the plan for next week!

Hey Girls,
Since and is away we are not having Impact this wed but Jane and I thought it would be nice to meet together at 6:30 at Friendly's. Bring money for what you want either dinner and/or ice cream--whatever. Call or email me or Jane and let us know if you need a ride otherwise just meet us there. Hope to see you and that you are all doing well.
--Trish

Long Lost relatives..

Hey guys!
So why did i tell you to send me some pictures? Well, i am going to be putting together a little thing we call "long lost relatives." What this means is, we want to see, if someone at impact had a long lost relative with someone else at impact, a relative that they share somehow, what would that person look like? We did this a few times in the past, and usually i just do it for my amusement, because it's fun, but i will share the results with you guys. For instance, if Jason and I had a long lost relative...



Scary, huh?! That's one of my favorites!
And what if Dan Bowers and Jason had a long lost relative?



As you can see, it get's... scary. hehe! So, as you send in the pictures, i will put together a slide show for the next Impact, and then post the results here! This should be interesting!...

Impact message this week. Ben spoke, and did a great job!

Message #3 10/8/08 (Mark 8:1-30)

Pray…

This semester we have been talking about the life of your heart. Guess what we will be talking about this week? That’s right the life of your heart. Where have you been putting your heart this week? Have you been putting it in the light of God’s love or have you been giving it to the world? Is the heart growing or is it dead? Is your heart attached to living things or perishing things? Tonight we are going to be talking about Jesus Christ the satisfier of hungry souls.

Mark 8:1-30
1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2"I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away." 4And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" 5And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." 6And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

11The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." 13And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

22And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." 25Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

27And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.





You are Hungry

Two examples: what two things do they have in common?

1.Look at verse 17-20. If I could ask this group a question, this is the questions I would ask. Jesus asks the disciples why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Answer: They are hungry. They only brought one loaf so they need to get more food. Now the disciples have two options at this point. Keep in mind they have just seen Jesus feed 4,000 people on one occasion and 5,000 people another. They could one, go to Jesus and say, “Hey, we’ve seen you turn a little bit of bread into a lot of bread and we are hungry. Can you do that again?” –OR- they could do what they did: discuss how to get themselves more bread. Maybe some were saying we need to turn around. Or maybe some were saying we need to get to the other side quicker. Which do you think would have been more effective?

2.What is this plant? What is it doing? It’s starving! It has no food! Remember the first week we said that the plant died because it didn’t like sunlight or water. It only wanted to be in the closet.

1.) They are both hungry.
2.) They are both rejecting their source of food.

Everyone of you has come in here tonight as one or both of these things and I’d be willing to bet that there are a lot of you who think you are only hungry but have also rejected your source of food. Your all hungry and looking for someone or something to feed you. And look we’ve talked about this…Your hearts are hungry. There is a spot in your heart that longs to be filled and satisfied. But here is where we really start to lie to ourselves. Our hearts are hungry for the wrong things. We run from one thing to another trying to fill it up. And you fill it up with friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, popularity… and after its all over you realize, you’re still hungry. You are still hungry. . It’s like drinking salt water. You drink and for one brief second it feels good going down your throat but in a quick moment it makes you thirstier than before. And so you drink again just for a brief moment of satisfaction until eventually the salt sucks all the water out of your body and you die of dehydration. And on and on it goes one thing to another trying to fill up this hunger inside of you. All the while you fail to realize that God was meant to be that satisfier of the soul. That Jesus stands next to us asking, “why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?” As if to say, “the thing you are hungering for is right in front of you.”

Now let me ask you a question. Do you think all Jesus came to do was feed people’s mouths with food? Do you think Jesus is some kind of cosmic dispenser of worldly and fleshly comfort? A lot of people think that way. Do you think that when He fed the crowds and put His power on display for all to see that He wanted them to worship their own comfort and filled bellies? Do you think Jesus wanted people following Him because He could give them some bread? No, but that’s what He got wasn’t it? After Jesus feeds the five thousand in John 6 a group comes running to Jesus. But He knows why they are there. “Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.” Unfortunately that is how many of you relate to Jesus. Listen, Impact is wonderful but I wonder how many of you come here thinking about who will be here? How many think about who will notice you? How many spend all their time, even now, thinking of ways to get someone’s attention. So we listen to the bands, and we carry around our Bibles and we throw in a couple Christian catch phrases. But what we are really after is someone to think that we are important. What we really want is someone to acknowledge how cool we are. Or maybe your like the Pharisess. You use Jesus to prop up your own self-righteousness.Your Christianity is tied up in all the things you do. It has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Do you see what we’ve done with this Jesus? Do you think Jesus is some kind of fast food mart that exists to simply fill your fleshly desires?! NO! He came to satisfy the hunger of your heart! But many of you don’t want your heart to be satisfied by Jesus. When you here things like being satisified by Jesus you think, “That’s boring.” Now listen…don’t forget the plant. Why is the plant starving? Why is your heart starving?

Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

The Jews would use cisterns to catch water to drink when it rained. But sometimes the cisterns would break and along with water, mud would seep in creating a kind of muddy soup. God says, the sin that people have committed is that they have looked at the fountain of living water that can satisfy the thirst of their soul and they said “not good enough.” I’d rather drink this muddy water. That’s what you’ve done. Do know that about yourself? Do you know that you have passed your heart around to drink and feast upon muddy water while the God of universe offers living water that will satisfy? And listen… I know some of you are thinking, “what is all this talk about drinking and eating and being hungry?” Look at Jesus words in John 6:53

“Truly, truly I say to you unless you eat the flesh fo the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:53

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

It’s serious. If we feed on anything but Jesus, (the world) we have no life. We are dead. If we have drank the dirty water and ate the food that does not satisfy we are dead. But those who feed upon Christ will live. This is life and death here. Do you want to know what it is to live? Feed upon Christ.. Am I calling you to become cannibals? No. I am calling you to fill that longing of your heart with what it was meant to be filled by…Jesus Christ. But Jesus is boring to you.

God Is Just to Let You Die in Your Hunger

Listen you are not victims here. You are the furthest thing from it. You’re starving and deserving of destruction because you have chosen mud over water. You chose it. There are many of you in this room longing for the food of this world, but listen…when you eat the food of this world there is no life in you. When you eat the food of the world you get death. When you eat the food of the world (sin) you get God’s wrath.This is what you deserve. It’s what I deserve. Let me remind you of a little story…Do you remember Adam and Eve? What did they get when they satisfied their craving for the fruit? Separation from God and death. Let remind you of another story. How many remember the story of the exodus?

Psalm 78:10-32
10They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?"
21Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid lowthe young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.
And some of you are saying in your head I don’t deserve that. “So I want a b/f and so I want everyone to like me…”

The reason you don’t understand that you deserve to destruction is that you don’t know what you’ve passed up. I say living water and you have no idea what that means. Look…how valuable is God? He is really valuable right? More valuable than anything you’ve every even conceived of in your brain. Understand that in going after your own way, you’ve said to God, “You are not good enough.” You have said in your heart that the things your feeding yourselves with are more valuable than God! It’s and insult like no other. Remember Jeremiah 2:13. Look at the verse before it. “Be appalled O heavens, at this. Be shocked be utterly desolate, declares the Lord.” Who in here hasn’t gone after the desires of their own heart? Who in here hasn’t stubbornly followed your own way and fed yourselves with the things of this world. You went after the muddy water instead of the living water. You went after idols instead of the living God. Let me sum it up for you. Because you have sought to feed yourselves with the food of this world and thus declared that God is less valuable than those things, you have chosen to starve to death and thus earned God’s destroying wrath.

God is Merciful in Jesus Christ

There are some of you that need to go home tonight without the rest of the message. Some of you don’t think you earned destruction. You’re just fine. You don’t deserve that. But there are those who understand that you are hungry and that there is nothing in this world that can satisfy that hunger but you know you need to be filled. And you want the answer. You understand the hopelessness of your situation. I’m here to tell you tonight that there is a God of mercy who longs to fill you. Despite the fact that you have turned away and satisfied yourself with the food of the world, God longs to redeem you to Himself so that you might truly be satisfied with the food He offers, Himself. Look what Jesus says when He sees the hunger of the crowd. “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” Now listen, Jesus is not obligated to feed these people. It’s not his job. But he has compassion. They are hungry and he longs to fill them. Now again, Jesus is concerned with their physical hunger but do you really think that in that moment all Jesus wanted those people to know about Him was that he could do a cool magic trick and make lots of bread? But listen there is a problem. People that have passed up true food (God) and thus life, didn’t earn food. You don’t deserve to be given food that leads to life. Listen…your soul deserves to be forever unsatisfied running from one thing to another being disappointed over and over and over again for all eternity. That’s what you chose remember?

If God is going to give you food that leads to life, someone is going to have to die hungry. Someone has to take your place. And you may say, “O I know where he’s going with this.” Listen! This isn’t a cute story. This is the life of your heart. Someone has to die left completely apart from the satisfying power of God to be punished on your behalf. To receive your destruction. And not just anyone. God Himself in the form of Christ Jesus has to become hungry and thirsty. And thus did Jesus cry on the cross, “I thirst.”

When Christ was hanging on the cross, when God was pouring out all His wrath that you deserved on Jesus, what does Jesus say? He’s hanging on the cross and what does He say? He say’s in John 19:28 “I thirst..” I thirst! And the soldiers mock Him by giving him sour wine meant to prolong His torture. Do you understand what happened on the cross? Do you understand what was going on? Jesus comes to the earth to become hungry and to become thirsty in your place! We said earlier that God was meant to fill the hunger in your soul. That’s all Jesus knew. He had never been unsatisfied before and rightfully so. He never knew what it was for His heart to hunger or thirst. He is the King! Perfectly satisfied by the Father for all eternity. And the king becomes the poor begger dieing of hunger and thirst on the cross. Not only physical hunger and thirst but God takes away His satisfying power from Christ and He is left hungry and thirsty and then God crushes Him. And here is the amazing thing. For those that believe, God on that cross put to death your hunger and your thirst for the world leading to death. He puts to death His Son and destroys for all time the endless hunger and thirst of the heart. And Christ rises in victory and says:

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

And as a result of His death He can now say to poor hungry souls that have in their sin filled themselves with the food of this world…and for those of you that have filled yourselves with the food of the world and you have seen that it has left you hungry, despite your unsurpassed sin against Him, He says:

Isaiah 55:1-3
1"Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.

Read with me again…

Mark 8:14-21
14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

They didn’t know who He was. They didn’t know that He was the one that could fill them. Do you see? Do you see what they were doing? Jesus puts His power to feed them on display and they begin talking about how they will fill themselves. What will they do? How will they get more bread. And Jesus says, “Don’t you know who I am. I just fed four thousand with table scraps. I am able to feed twelve people. But you are hard of heart.” He’s not rebuking them because they are hungry. He’s rebuking them because they don’t get that He is the Christ. He’s the one that will satisfy. They don’t know who He is. And I know tonight there are some of you that will see this work of Jesus on the cross. You will see that He died on the cross, bore your hunger and your thirst and your death…. You will see that He took your hunger and he took your thirst and destroyed it so that if you would believe, you would never have to hunger again. But you will leave here tonight and start looking for ways for the world to satisfy your heart. You will take your heart and give to the person sitting next to you or the crowd at your school or some boy or girl that thinks your special.

The Blindness of Your Hungry Heart

I don’t think that it’s coincidental that in the text directly after Jesus asks Peter, “Do you not understand” he goes on to heal a blind man. We are people that need to have our eyes opened. Listen…the dead heart, the heart that feeds on this world hates true food right. It can’t see Jesus as true food because it hates him. When Christ died on the cross, for those that believe, He put that heart to death and gave a new heart that longed to be filled by Him and so live. Maybe you see that your heart is starving and you see Christ but you don’t love Him. You see that heart wants to give itself away to worthless things and that your heart longs to feed on the world. Go to God, ask for a new heart, ask Him to open your eyes to see who Christ is: son of God, sin on our behalf, the satisfier of our souls.
After Jesus heals the blind man He is walking with Peter and Jesus asks him, “Who do people say that I am.” John, Elijah, a prophet. There are many things this world tells you Jesus is. Some of you use Jesus and this group Impact that is about worshipping Him as a method to gratify your hungry hearts with the attention of men. But the real question is not who people say Jesus is. Who do you say He is? Do you believe it? Did Jesus starve in your place so that you would be filled?

Mark Seven- The Life of the Heart

Mark Seven

The life of the Heart

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“ ‘ This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

7 in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Mk 7:1-23

intro

(At the beginning of this message I bring a plant in and show it. It is obviously not healthy. Where did I put it? Did it thrive? Was it designed to be there?)

What does this passage have to do with this plant?

Out of touch with our hearts

I want you to take one lesson from this passage- These guys had no idea where there hearts were. They thought they were with God. Near God. And yet they were totally wrong. How could they be so wrong? They thought they loved God more than any others, they thought they knew their hearts where closest to God, and yet they were so out of touch with where their hearts were that they actually were farthest away from God. They had it completely wrong! How can this be?

See, this is what I want you to see- very, very often humans do not know their own hearts. They are unfamiliar with them.

Do you know where your heart is?

What do I mean your “heart.” I do not mean just your feelings or your love. I mean that innermost part of you where your desires live, where your decisions are made, where your love resides, that very central part of yourself that defines you, your will, your all. The center of all you are. I am talking about that place in your core where all your wants are, all your longings. That part of you that wants to be loved. The real you, that is what I am talking about. The inner true self, the inner true you.

This inner self, this true you, the inner part that desires and longs, it is this part that I think you have neglected. I wonder how many of you right now really know your heart? I mean really know it- you know what it wants, you know where it has been, you know right now what it longs for. This very central part of us, this thing that really defines us, we so often are out of touch with. We get our hearts wrong.

Why?

We tend to ignore our hearts. We get so distracted with so many things that we hardly ever stop to think about the inner life of our heart. We do not stop to examine ourselves too often. We do not try and understand what we want, and why we want it. Just like these Pharisees, we have neglected to think about our hearts, and why we do what we do and want what we want.

We are so out of touch with our hearts and what they really need that we spend a good deal of time being very careless with them. We are told in the Word to guard our hearts. To be careful with them, to give them the right things, but we don’t. we ignore them.

How are we careless with our hearts?

We are careless with our hearts when we put it close to things that it was never designed to be close to. You see, what this text tonight tells us is that our hearts where designed to be near God. That is what Jesus is saying. The problem with the Pharisees is that their heart was not near Him, as it was designed to be. Jesus says this is so important that even if you make a million rules and keep them, even if you sing the greatest songs of praise, and tell all your friends about Jesus, and prayer the greatest prayers, and give the best sermons, and speak the greatest truths- even if your lips praise Him like this- if your heart is far from Him, all that you have done is in vain- it is worth nothing. Because God does not want lips that say the right things, He wants hearts that love Him, that are close to Him. That beat for Him. Is that your heart?

Have you been careless with your heart?

Really, the only thing most people know about their hearts is that they are not content. They are not ok with what they have, there is something missing that they want. (How dangerous it is, actually, when we don’t feel this way, when we feel completely satisfied with what is here!)

Tozer said this- "thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them.” This feeling in our heart is a gift, and it drives us to put our heart close to things. We are driven to find something that will make it better.

What have you let your heart get close to? Where has it been?

What do I mean? Let me give you some examples-

· Some people have let their hearts get close to popularity. They want just to be admired and be thought much of. They wanted to see if their heart would grow and thrive in that light, and it certainly seems like it will, it feels right. And so under that light it goes, and we take our heart and we give it to the crowds. Imagine that- the crowds! And they trample upon it, and use it, and mold it into what will best suit and entertain them. This trampling of our heart leaves it dirty, and hurting.

· Some people have let their hearts get close to a certain person. They want the love not just of crowds, but of a certain one. You know, Impact has a position on dating for this reason. Dating is not a sin. Understand, there have been people in Impact that have dated with Impact’s blessing- two of them leaders now- Ben and Mark. But, the American idea of dating is one we encourage students to stay away from. Why? Because it is a giving of your heart over and over to different people. We try it here, and there, and before you know it again our hearts have been all over the place, dirtied, and tired.

· All of the things that we might find here to put our hearts close to will harm our hearts, because if our hearts are close to and tied to the things here, our hearts will share their fate. – look-

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.1 Jn 2:15-17

We are told not to love the things here- that is, tie our hearts to them- because if we do, we tie our hearts to something that is dying, passing away, and our hearts will share the fate of what we tie them too. Do you want an argument for not dating an unbeliever- here it is- do not tie your heart to something that is passing away, dying. All unbelievers fit that definition, and to fall in love with and date an unbeliever is to tie your heart to one who is perishing, and so your heart will share their fate. This is why being in a relationship with a believer is different- they are not passing away!

So we have put our hearts close to so many things. Like the plant I showed you, our hearts have been close to things that can not give life, and the result is that they are dying, and sick, and hurting.

The saddest situation is when someone has done that for a long time, and then gives up. Then they try and just ignore the ache in their hearts.

The way we try and fix our hearts

But for some of you, you can not ignore it. And you don’t want to. Maybe you are sitting here now thinking “yes, I have done this. I have placed my heart close to so many things, given it a bit too much to things I should never have given it.”

We realize that we have let our heart get a bit dirtied. It has been too close to things it should never be close to. Our hearts have longed and ached for things, and we thought they could get what they need if we just let our hearts get close to some of the things in the world. Yet we still ache, and in the end our heart is dirtier than before. What will we do?

Our first reaction, and maybe your reaction right now, is to say something like this to ourselves- “ok, that’s all, I am going to start to do good. I will make myself do better. I wont be a bad person anymore, I wont run after those other things, I wont dirty my heart ever again that way.”

This is exactly what the Pharisees did, and I have news for you – it doesn’t work.

Look-

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

The Jews had all these rules and regulations about what they could touch and how to wash and what to do to be clean. They wanted to do what you want to do- have a clean heart, make things right. But this does not work. Listen, I have good news for you- for those of you in here with dirty hearts that have been too close to the world, I have good news. You can not do anything to fix the problem. Now, that doesn’t sound like good news, but it is. It means that you can scrap all your plans to try and just be good and protect your heart. You cant do it. You will fail.

Why do I say this?

Because Jesus makes this clear in the rest of this passage. In the midst of all this stuff about hearts being near or far from God, and being clean or dirty, Jesus says

15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”

The problem, Jesus says, is not with what you do, not with what you put your heart close to, but with your heart itself. He explains-

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The problem, Jesus is saying, is not that you put your heart close to the wrong things, but that it wants to be close to the wrong things, the problem is with your heart. It is dirty through and through. It will always chase after the things that will kill it. It is like a plant that only wants to be in the dark. You can try your best to keep putting it in the light, but it is always wanting to go back in the dark. It is broken. The bible makes this point so clear about our hearts-

9 The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

Je 17:9

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Ge 6:5

Our heart will continue to return to the same things that will dirty it again. The problem is our hearts need to be close to God, but don’t like being close to God. Our hearts are broken, they like the wrong things. They like what kills them, what dirties them.

Maybe, after all, there is no hope for your heart. In fact, i think this is the case. our hearts are hopeless. They will never want what is right, they will never love God over evil, they will never live, they are dying. What hope do we have?

Jesus’ way of fixing our hearts

There is only one hope for our hearts.

Death.

We must hand this heart, and all it’s wicked desires, over to God. We must ask Him to kill it, and give us a new heart.

A new heart! This is our hope, this is what we need.

We are orphans until this takes place. we become His children when He gives us new hearts.

But how can this be? How can you have your heart be put to death?

Understand, every one of you- your heart, your heart that has longed for such evil and sinful things, that has been so close to what it should never have been close to, it will die. It must die. God’s wrath is upon your heart, for your heart has not honored God. It has been far from Him, it runs from Him. This is the heart you were born with. This is what we call sin.

And if our hearts die, we die with them. We are connected to them. We can not just have it taken out and put to death, we can not say “Lord, punish my heart, but spare me.” We are one with our heart. And yet our heart must taste death, it must be destroyed. And so we must be destroyed.

But God is so filled with love, so good, and so caring, that even though our hearts run from Him, even though we have not wanted him, while we hated him, he did a wonderful thing. Jesus Christ came and he took the punishment that you deserve because of your wicked heart and sin. He took your place on the Cross, he was punished as a substitute for all who will believe.

So now you can go to him this night and say this- “Lord, I am sick of my heart and how it runs to be close to what will never satisfy it. I am sick of how it does not want you the way it should. I know there is nothing I can do to make up for that, there is nothing I can do to fix it. And I know that I deserve to never be close to you because of it. Please, let Christ’s death be the punishment for me. Let Him be punished in my place, and give me a new heart, one that loves you and wants what is right. Make me a new creation.”

Friends, your heart must be made new. God promises he will do this!

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. Ezekiel 36:25-29

Our hearts are broken, and evil, and ever wandering, ever going their own way. And the Maker of the stars, he hears the cry of your broken heart tonight, he knows the ache in you, and he comes to set you free from it. This is the love and mercy of God- that He would love you so much that He would make a way for you to be near Him. He has made a way for our hearts to be close to Him. He has taken away His wrath, His wrath at us, by spending it on His son. Now, he will give you a new heart, a heart that is close to Him.

What should you do?

Where is your heart tonight? Is it His? Is it new? If it is not, run to Him, He is waiting to make it new! And if it is new, protect it, and keep it close to Him, and rejoice that He has done such a wonderful thing for you, and that forever your heart will get closer and closer to Him. What should you do? Well, if you are not sure if you are His child-

Realize that your heart has been far from Him, and that it can not be fixed by anything you have done. Understand that the fact that since you have been so resistant to loving Him as He should be loved mean that His anger burns against you, your heart is cut off from Him forever, it is not close, nor can it be, nor will it ever want to be. It is like a plant in the dark, it will die.

Tell Him that you need help. That you want to be close to Him. You want His wrath to be removed, and you want a new heart, a heart that does not love sin and evil anymore, but that loves Him.

Tell Him that you want Jesus’ death on the cross to count for you, and that you want Christ’s goodness to count for you too. Tell Him you want Christ to be your substitute, so that all of God’s anger at you can be poured out on the Son.

Realize that this is the case- God’s anger at you is poured out on Jesus. And realize that when God looks at you now, he sees Jesus’ righteousness and good works, they now count for you, and you are clean in God’s sight!

And rejoice that God is at work in you- let the world know it!

If you are His child-

Examine what you have been doing with your heart, and what it has been close to.

Examine where you have led others- have you led them to put their hearts close to you, or to God? To what will give life, or what will take life?

Turn from anything in your life that is trying to win your heart away from God.

Get your heart close to God so that it will thrive and not die.

Live in such a way that the world knows that He owns your heart, and that you want to be close to Him. The world you are in always is giving their hearts to the things around them. Don’t join them, live differently, let that be seen!