Ten Towns

Mark 5:19-20 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.”  So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Jesus just healed a man from being possessed by a legion of demons.  He was once running around naked and crazy but now he is clothed and in his right mind.  This freaks his neighbors out and they try to get Jesus to leave the area as soon as possible.  The man wants to follow Jesus and go with him.  But Jesus doesn't allow him to go with Jesus but rather tells him to go home and tell everyone what God has done for him!  

I have read and heard this passage preached on may time in my life - (Read the whole passage if you have time) but today the Ten Towns stuck out to me in a fresh way.  The man who is released from the nightmare of demon possession doesn't just go home to tell his family and his closest neighbors; no that would not be enough.  He went on a mission to tell the people in the Ten Towns!  

We might now have quite the same story of healing from a legion of demons, but we have a story of redemption to tell.  We have all be imprisoned in the chains of our own desires and passions.  We have all been held captive by the things of the world.  We all have a story of freedom to share with people who are stuck.  God has given you freedom to share!  Whatever we have been through is our story to tell.  What is your story?  Practice telling it and tell it in faith, believing God wants to use your story to impact people around you! 

How many towns will hear the Good News because we are called to share our story?  

Holy Week - Resurrection Sunday

Luke 24:1-9 But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.  So they went in, but they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?  He isn't here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”  Then they remembered that he had said this.  So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened.  

Resurrection power is so incredible to us even today.  We have great technology that can do so much, but still death is so final.  Death is such a powerful force and unknown in our lives.  But for God death is powerless.  For God death has no impact or sting.

Jesus resurrection remind us that we serve a God who is not controlled or intimidated by death.  Death was not God's choice, but rather the unfortunate impact of sin on the creation of God.  We can live with a confidence that our God is more powerful than death!  

Jesus resurrection reminds us that there is power in living with the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  What threat can the devil make against us when we have Jesus on our side?  What can the enemy do to us if we have resurrection power on our team?  We can live with a calm assurance that He who is for us is greater then the one who is against us!  

Holy Week - Saturday

Mark 15:42-47 This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached,  Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.)  Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet.  The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

Jesus was in the grave.  His followers discouraged and scattered.  All seemed lost.  All was quiet that Sabbath.  Not the Passover celebration they had anticipated. The day of rest and worship must have seemed empty and hollow for the disciples that day.  How do you go on with life as usual when this type of life changing event has happened?  How do you go on when all you hoped for was dead?  

And there was silence.

Silence in the tomb.

Silence in the lives of the disciples.

Waiting. 

Not even sure they had the ability to hope again. 

And there was silence. 

God doesn't mind having us wait in the silence.  He knows it is good for us to wait and to listen.   It may even be good for us to struggle through the feelings of hopelessness.  It is definitely good for us to wait, even though no one likes the process.  

It is in the silence that we can hear from God.  It is after the waiting that God moves in incredible ways! 

Holy Week - Friday

Mark 15:21-27  A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)  And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.”  Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

As we think about Jesus being crucified we can think about the symbolism of the two portions of the cross.  One vertical post that was placed in the ground and reached towards the heavens.  The crucifixion of Jesus impacts our vertical relationship with God. Jesus described it as a new covenant between God and humanity.  Through the forgiveness of our sins by the cross we have gained access to the presence of God.  

The cross also had a horizontal post which held the arms of Jesus.  The crucifixion also impacts our lives horizontally.  Because we live in a new covenant with God we can live differently in our relationships to each other.  There is a bond in the body of Christ that is cross empowered.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote if we are struggling with a fellow Christian we should pray that God would help us picture them at the "foot of the cross." We are all equally in need and we all look the same at the foot of the cross. 

We must continually look to the cross to impact our lives both vertically and horizontally!  

Holy Week - Thursday

John 13:1-5 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. (NLT) 

What is it that we think we deserve because we follow Jesus with our lives?   We have given God so much, surely He will bless us and honor all the hard work we have done for the Kingdom.  God's answer always seems to be - wash feet!  Serve other people is our calling and our blessing!  The enemy tempts us to believe that serving is miserable work and the real living is kicking back and enjoying the good life.  But as usual, the devil is a liar and a deceiver. 

God created us to serve and to find our fulfillment in loving God and loving others.  How do we ever expect to find satisfaction in doing anything else?  We will simple be "chasing after the wind."  

It is not that God doesn't bless us because He truly does in our lives and for eternity.  But our blessings are not usually what we expect them to be or what we thought we might have asked for from God. 

Try putting some real feet to this process and serve someone this week without seeking applause of people.  Don't tell anyone you served and ask God to fill your heart with love and purpose in the process.  

Holy Week - Wednesday

Matthew 26:14-16 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver.  From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

It is estimated that 30 pieces of silver would equal about 3 to 6 months worth of income for Judas.  No matter how much the amount was it was not enough to betray a friend.  

What are the things in our lives that cause us to be tempted to betray Jesus?
- the slow drift away from a passionate relationship with God 
- temptation to seek the material over the spiritual 
- Jesus disappointing you by not answering your prayer in the way you wanted him to 
- seeking your own solutions and plans instead of trusting and waiting on God


Maybe you want to count out 30 coins and place them somewhere you will see them this week to remind you of your tendency to betray Jesus.  

Holy Week - Tuesday

Mark 14:3-9 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head. Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked.  “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.  But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?  You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me.  She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time.  I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.” (NLT) 

It is amazing how fragrances can spark memories in our minds about events in the past.  The smell of bread takes me back to coming home from grade school and knowing my mom had baked fresh bread that day and I would be asking to eat a heal.  

Jesus smelled of this anointing all week long.  This was powerful stuff.  It was used to help the dead not smell as bad as the dead smell.  Jesus commented on the reality that this anointing was part of his coming death.  So for the rest of the final week of Jesus life before his crucifixion he smelled like a man about to be buried.  There is no doubt Jesus was aware of what was coming and how it coming.  

It was also the smell of royalty and the wealthy.  This was not a time of daily showers and deodorant and so there was a clear distinction between the wealthy and the poor by smell.  So here is Jesus going through his week of teaching in the temple, on trial, being persecuted by the Roman soldiers, being crucified and all the time smelling like a person of royalty.  

Jesus saw this act of gift giving as significant and worthy of being remembered.  What act of worship and giving can we offer up to God that will also be remembered?  Not remembered by people or written about in books but remembered by God that we brought honor to Him? 

Holy Week - Monday

Mark 11:15-18 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching. (NLT) 

Author John Eldridge in his book, "Beautiful Outlaw"  talks about the event of clearing the temple and how Jesus is fiercely intentional in his life.  It is hard to imagine a feeble, tender spoken Jesus being forceful enough to clear the temple.  He surely showed he was a force to be reckoned with on this day and not a quiet prophet speaking softly on the side of a hill.  

Why was Jesus so angry?  (den of thieves) Part of his anger was at the injustice of the system that had been put into place to take advantage of people.  You can't buy a sacrifice for the temple with regular Roman money so you would have to exchange your money for "Temple" money.  And of course the exchange rate was in the money changers favor and not the common persons favor.  

Part of his anger was that all of this money changing and animal sales was happening in the temple. (House of prayer)  The outer court of the temple was the only place non-Jewish people could worship God.  They couldn't gain access into the inner courts of the temple.  Money changing and animal markets are not the normal places of prayer.   

How will you clear some space and some time to worship the Lord through prayer this week?  What is some of the noise you might need to reduce or turn off completely? Sometimes we need a change of place and a change of place to have ears to hear what the Spirit says!