Welcome to the word of God online for May 12 2010

Where Do You Turn When The Storms of Life Strike?

Mark 4 35-40

As evening fell, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took him jas as he was and started out, leaving the crowds behind (though other boats followed). But soon a terrible storm arose. High waves began to break into the boat until it was nearly full of water and about to sink.

Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they wakened him, shouting, “Master, don’t you even care that we are all about to drown?”

Then he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Quiet down!” And the wind fell, and there was a great calm.

He asked the disciples, “Why were you so fearful? Don’t you even yet have confidence in me?”

———————————————-

This small piece of scripture is powerful. Life brings storms and challenges that are overwhelming to us all. It is easy to look to the natural and realize things may be falling apart in our lives or something is going on that can bring great anxiety to us.

Without Jesus, we will face these challenges on our own and my experiences tell me that by myself I can not overcome them, or I will struggle mightily trying to force my way through them.

The disciples had been witnessing miracle after miracle, day after day, and yet they are STILL human. When the storm came, fear rose, anxiety rose…

but, what did they do with it?

They went to Jesus for the answers

Jesus, God incarnated, the son of God, rose and did something that all of us would marvel at and not have an explanation as to how this happened. Jesus rebuked the winds and storm and they immediately stop.

Then he turned to his disciples and asked them why did they not have confidence in Him!

How are we to face these storms?

Do you try to face them alone?

When we are spiritually connected to our Savior, and we come to him for help, he will not forsake us. He will be there to save us, he will be there to help us if we ask and diligently seek him.

The disciples where in AWE when this happened and asked who is this man that even the winds and seas obey him?

Habakkuk from the living Bible

Chapter 1

This is the message that came to the Prophet Habakkuk in a vision from God:

Oh Lord, how long must I call for help for you will listen?  I shout to you in vain; there is no answer.

“Help!  Murder!”  I cried, but no one comes to save.  Must I forever see this sin and sadness all around me?

Read More→

This Melchizedek was king of the city of Salem, and also a priest of the most high God. When Abraham was returning home after winning a great battle against many kings, Melchizedek met him and blessed him. Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had won in the battle and gave it to Melchizedek.

Melchizedek’s name means “Justice” so he is the King of Justice; and he is also the King of Peace because of the name of his city, Salem, which means “Peace”. Melchizedek had no father or mother and there is no record of any ancestors. He was never born and he never died but his life is like that of the Son of God—a priest for ever.

See then how great this Melchizedek is:

Even Abraham, the first and most honored of all God’s chosen people, gave Melchizedek a ten of the spoils he took from the kings he had been fighting. One could understand why Abraham would do this if Melchizedek had been a Jewish priest, for later on God’s people were required by law to give gifts to help their priests because the priests were their relatives, and yet Abraham paid him.

Melchizedek placed a blessing upon mighty Abraham—and as everyone knows, a person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person he blesses.

The Jewish priests, though mortal received tithes; but we are told that Melchizedek lives on.

One Might even say that Levi himself (the ancestor of all Jewish priests, of all who receive tithes), paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham. For although Levi wasn’t born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham when Abraham paid the tithes to Melchizedek,

If the Jewish priest and their laws had been able to save us, why did God need to send Christ as a priest with the rank of Melchizedek, instead of sending someone with the rank of Aaron—the same rank as all the other priests had?

When God sends a new kind of priest, his law must be changed to permit it. As we all know, Christ did not belong to the priest-tribe of Levi, but came from the tribe of Judah, which had not been chosen for priesthood; Moses had never given them that work. So we can plainly see that God’s method changed, for Christ, the new high priest who came with the rank of Melchizedek, did not become a priest by meeting the old requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but on the basis of power flowing from a life that cannot end. And the psalmist points this out when he says of Christ, “you are a priest forever with the rank of Melchizedek.”

Yes, the old system of priest-hood based on family lines was cancelled because it didn’t work. It was weak and useless for saving people.

It never made anyone really right with God. But now we have a far better hope, for Christ makes us acceptable to God, and now we may draw near to him.

God took an oath that Christ would always be a priest, although he never said that of other priests. Only to Christ he said, “The Lord has sworn and will never change his mind: you are a priest forever, with the rank of Melchizedek.” Because of God’s oath, Christ can guarantee forever the success of this new and better arrangement.

Under the old arrangement there had to be many priests, so that when the older ones died off, the system could still be carried on by others who took their places.

But Jesus lives forever and continues to be a priest so that no one else is needed. He is able to save completely all who come to God through him. Since he will live forever, he will always be there to remind God that he has paid for their sins with his blood.

He is, therefore, exactly the kind of high priest we need; for he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin, undefiled by sinners and to him has been given the place of honor in heaven. He never needs the daily blood of animal sacrifices, as other priests did, to cover over first their own sins and then the sins of the people; for he finished all sacrifices once and for all, when he sacrificed himself on the cross. Under the old system, even the high priests where weak and sinful men who could not keep from going wrong, but later God appointed by his oath his Son who is perfect for ever.