"Do you GET it?"

So my Grandma duties continued today and I managed to get all the kids up, dressed and in the car for church by 8:15am.  All three kids went willingly to Sunday School and I went to church. After lunch and nap, we went to the park and played outside on this beautiful day!

But since church, I have not been able to get the sermon out of my head! It was a very thought provoking sermon.  The reading was from Mark 4 - an interesting piece of scripture.  Jesus says that he is stronger than the strongest of evil ones and then he says in verse 26 that ALL sins are forgiven.  Then comes verse 27.  EXCEPT -(that killer word).  Except blaspheme of the Holy Spirit.  I loved how the Pastor set the stage for the explanation of this verse.  He spoke about the beginning of Mark up through chapter 4.  All of the miracles and wonders that Jesus had done.  So many crowds following him and pressing in on him, and then his own family comes to try to take him away, thinking he is out of his mind!  They don't GET IT!  And then the scribe comes from Jerusalem (the religious leader) and he says that Jesus must be a demon because of the power that he has displayed.  He wanted to discredit Jesus and make sure that the people didn't take him seriously.  He wanted to sideline Jesus.  Clearly he didn't GET IT!  So, that is the question of the day.  Do you GET IT?  The Pastor pointed out that often conversations are completely shut down because of the word "offensive".  Today, if someone says that our point of view is "offensive" to them, the conversation just ends.  Often people will want to reinterpret the Bible to make it fit their own agendas. They want to say "Jesus was just a great teacher" or "Jesus was a prophet".  But anything less than "Jesus is the Son of God" is just blaspheme! 

So "Do you GET IT?"  Are you willing to say with complete assurance that Jesus is your Savior and Jesus is the Son of God?  The pastor used this analogy....

Imagine you have a serious, life threatening illness.  There is a surgeon that has the procedure that will save your life.  He has performed this operation on countless people.  But you decide that the surgeon is really an evil murderer and he intends to kill you.  So you pass up the life saving operation.  You just don't get it.  You have sidelined the person who can save you.

Unfortunately, there are many in the church today who decide that a certain worship style is "of the devil" so they sideline everything that is happening in those churches.  Or possibly that popular television pastor who has testimony of healings and miracles. Some in the church would say "this is of the devil" and they would sideline this ministry.  Even Jesus' own mother and brothers and sister thought this!  So, I encourage you to let the Holy Spirit speak to you before you decide that something you have seen or heard about is not "correct".  Don't blaspheme the Holy Spirit because you don't GET IT!  And let's all be willing to shout out that Jesus IS the Son of God and He IS our Saviour! 

Jesus, thank you for being my Savior and my Lord.  Holy Spirit, continue to speak to me when I am faced with these difficult questions and things don't seem so clear or obvious.  Yahweh, I want to understand ALL of who you are and all that you doing today in the world.  Thank you for Fellowship of Faith and this challenging sermon today.  Bless them and their ministry and Pr. Dave, as they seek to help people GET IT!   Amen