Bible Study - Class meets on Thursday from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM CST.

[WindComeWindBlow]

Not a bad idea.  I like it. 

[LadyLionness]

Heavenly Father,

We come before you today with hearts full of joy for the prayers that you have answerd this week and for the message you have sent to our hearts, full of your peace, love, and wisdom.  Lord, you never ceased to amaze me and I love you so much.

Thank you for good friends and for the brothers and sisters in Christ who joins us weekly to study and discuss your WORD.  Father, may you grant us the wisdom and knowledge to understand and to hear.  The mind is strong, but the flesh is weak, so Father, I pray that you will be with us and that you will cultivate our hearts and that we become the 1/4 of good soil that hears your WORD and grow from it.

All this I pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.  Amen.

[LadyLionness]

Will we be doing the Thursday noon Bible Study and conference call?

The conference call will happen only if people are interested.  The line will be a private line.  This conference line was set up by a good friend of mine who will not sell your nubmers, lolz!  This line was open for the most part this type of activities.  Wind and I had the previlidge of using it the other day and it was wonderful.

[LadyLionness]

From the Leadership Bible:

Jesus Reduces His Core Values to Two (Mark 12:38-34)

Jesus declared that the entire Law could be reduced to loving God with all our hearts and lvoing our neighbor as we love ourselves.  This is the genius behind core valeus.  Jesus summarized his vast kingdom using two simple pharases.  Can you do that with your homelife and work?

[WindComeWindBlow]

Kat, I didn't get this parable. 

The Parable of the Tenants

1He then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 2At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

6“He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

7“But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

9“What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10Haven’t you read this scripture:

“‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the capstonea;

11the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’b?”

12Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

http://niv.scripturetext.com/mark/12.htm

[LadyLionness]

The Law of the Picture:  Jesus Found a Model to Affirm (Mark 12:41 - 44)

ONce in a whle, Jesus would sue someone as a public model.  For ex, he affired the centurion for his faith, admonished the Pharisees for their pride, and commended a poor widow for her generousity.

One day Jesus spotted a destitute woman in the temple.  Although she had almost nothing, she put two small coins into the treasury.  Jesus singled her out and louded her example.  He even favorably ocmpared her to the rich who gave out of their suprlus.  God considered Her gift more noble than theirs.

Jesus was using the Law of the Picture.  When you want to encourage certain behavior, find someone who is doing the right thing, and call attention to it.  Affirm it.  Like a sheperd hanging a bell around the neck of the sheep he wants the flock to follow, encourage others to observe the one doing right.  Visual sermons yeild far better results than verbal ones.

[LadyLionness]

Getting my notes... Wind.

I am going adress this question using both the Life Application Bible and the MacAurthur Study Bible.

Jesus taught this parabel to confront the chiel priests and elders and reveal their hypocritical characters. 

In this parable, the lord of the vineyard is God; the vineyard is the nation Israel (in this day and age, the believers); the husbandmen are Israle's religious leaders (in our time, those Christians who think and act like they are holy than thou); the servants are the prophets and priests who remained faithful to God (we still have more good pastors and leaders than bad ones); the son is Jsus; and the others are Gentiles (or non-believers).  By telling this story, Jesus exposed the religious leadersh plot to kill him and warned that their sins would be punished.

...to be continued.

[BoyRescue]

Question: Why did they marvel at Jesus response Mark 12:13-17 and what was so significant about His response?

[LadyLionness]

continuation of Wind's question:

12:1
The owner makes an agreement iwth the men he believes are relabel carekaters, who are to pay a certain percentage of the proceeds to him as rent.  The rest of the profits belonged to them for their work in cultivating the corp.  The "vinedressers" represent the Jewish leaders... and Pastors, Elders, and other leaders in our time.

12:7
The vine dressers were greedy; because they wanted the entire harvast and the vineyard for themselves and would stop at nothing to acheive that end, they plotted to kill the owner's son.  Because Jesus had achieved such a following, the Jewish leaders believed the only way to maintain their position and power over the people was to kill him.

12:9 
The owner of the vineyard will execute the vinedressers, thus serving as a prohecy of the destruction of Jerusalem (70 AD) and the nation of Israel.

[LadyLionness]

Question: Why did they marvel at Jesus response Mark 12:13-17 and what was so significant about His response?

The Pharisees and Herodians thoguht they had the perfect question to trap Jesus.  But Jesus answered wisely, once again exposing their self-interest and wrong motives.  Jesus said that the coin bearing the emperor's image should be given t the emperor.  But our lives, which bear God's image, belong to God. 

Question to All:  Are you giving God all that is rightfully his?  Give your life to God - you bear his image.

[LadyLionness]

Wind, I will be back later to answer the rest of your questions.  If anything is still unclear, please let me know... I will pull out the big guns... my husband and his friends.

[LadyLionness]

A side conversation I would like to share with you all (with permission).

So the prayer is done via the conference or is it just on PH?

In open forum.  On the thread.

How is that hard? And how is that a prayer? When I think of prayer, I think of a voice.

I used to be intimidated by prayers.  People were always so eloquent and speak in such big and powerful words.  Now, I just speak to God from my heart and know that he hears me.

For prayers to be answered, they must be voiced and specific in details.

No they don't.  God can read our thoughts and answer them.  I had one answered.  My husband.  I wished for a Pastor, but knew how rediculous that was and never had the courage to voice it out.  God answered that prayer.

Hm..interestin g. I had never heard of that before. I have always been told that a prayer should be spoke out so that the vibrating voices will fly away with a butterfly to Heaven and so the message will finally get to God and he will then answer.

Scripture teaches that we are pray all the time and that there will be times when we would not know what to say or how to ask, but that for us to not worry for the Holy Spirit who is bestowed on ALL Christians when they accept Jesus Christ will plead wiith God on our behalf, with murmurs, sounds, and noises that only He and God can udnerstand.

Isn't that awesome?  Yes, there are times that we need to speak our prayers out loud, but I have come to learn that is so that we are truly humble and know that it is God who made it possible.

You can tell the rest about my position on prayers. But I guess God can feel our thoughts, too. He's the Almighty afterall.

I don't know if you remember, but there were times when Jesus answered the thoughts of his diciples and those of the Pharisees.

Tell me about those, too. I'm sure he could do many things that God did. He's God's son afterall.

Jesus is more than just God's son.  He is God himself, in the flesh... Immanuel, another name Jesus is known by is God among us

[LadyLionness]

Not sure where my partner is, so I will do the closing prayers and see you all next week.  Same time, same place.


Dear Lord,

We thank you for this day which you have given us.  As we leave and go back to our work, I pray that you will help us to be able to concentrate and remember that we are working for you and not just our employers.  Father, thank your for the people who have joined this group and those who can't fit it into their schedule but is reading as time permits.  Lord, we are so grateful for all that you have done.  We love you and desire to serve you.  We ask that you protect us each and every day of our live.

All this I pray in Jesus's name, Amen.

[BoyRescue]

The Pharisees and Herodians thoguht they had the perfect question to trap Jesus.  But Jesus answered wisely, once again exposing their self-interest and wrong motives.  Jesus said that the coin bearing the emperor's image should be given t the emperor.  But our lives, which bear God's image, belong to God. 

Question to All:  Are you giving God all that is rightfully his?  Give your life to God - you bear his image.

But Jesus said in Mark 12:17 - And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Meaning Jesus approved of us to render the things of Caesar to Caesar.  What are the things that are Caesar that we are suppose to be rendered to Caesar?  And how does this coincide with what Jesus said "and to God the things that are God's?"

[BoyRescue]

I think I found my answer, but if you want reply you can.