Christ With Coffee On Ice - how to make my prayer life stronger

Episode Date: October 11, 2024

Hey y'all ! Welcome to another Friday with CWCOI ! In this week's episode, our host, Ally Yost reads and talks through scripture in the book of Mark. As we read through Mark, we talk relate a lot of what we read to the importance of prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting go hand in hand when it comes to our relationship with God - so that we can hear Him more clearly and more specifically. "Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, "Why couldn't we cast out that evil spirit? Jesus replied, "This kind can be cast out only by prayer." Mark 9:28-29 ☆ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PATREON ☆ : https://patreon.com/CWCOI  If you would like to give to CWCOI and financially support the podcast, you can do so here ! ➤ https://www.paypal.me/CWCOI _____________________________________________  Connect further with us ! TikTok ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@christwithcoffeeonice  Instagram ➤ https://instagram.com/christwithcoffeeonice _____________________________________________  Connect further with Ally !  TikTok (2M) ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@ally_yost  Instagram ➤ https://www.instagram.com/ally_yost/  ShopMy ➤ https://shopmy.us/allyyost Pinterest ➤ https://www.pinterest.com/ally_yost1/_created/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with coffee on ice. I am your host, Ali Yost, and I am so excited to be here with you guys. I have my iced coffee. We've got our Christ. We've got our Bible. And we have each other. Hi, guys.

Happy Friday. My mood immediately shifts the minute I get to sit down with you guys. I don't think you understand. I wish that you could see how I was before, like just a few minutes ago, to now when I get to sit down with you guys. and hang out with y'all and just talk about the Lord, this is actually my favorite place to be, like ever. So just know that it is literally such a mood shifter for me, and it is just something I really truly look forward to doing every single week.

So thank you for joining, guys. I hope that you guys have had a good week since the last time that we have touched base. And I really, first off, one sip of my coffee really quick. I used my espresso machine today. I don't know if it's the pods that I'm getting for it, y'all. Help. I don't know if I love the coffee that comes from my espresso machine. That's just how I feel.

It's a nice little coffee machine, so I don't really know what to do with it. I know Ashley uses it a lot, so praise God that, you know, there's use in that. But I think I'm getting the wrong pods. So if anyone has any advice of what type of coffee pods to get, I think what I'm not liking is the bitterness. Like whatever pods I bought, I'm thinking it's a little too bitter. Because even if I put like creamer in it, it's still really bitter. No, I like my coffee's really sweet. Like Jesus, you know?

Sweet. Sweet. Oh, but what I was going to say is that I have had a specific scripture that has been in my brain all morning. And I don't know why I woke up with this. I don't know why it's been so on my heart today, but we're going to jump into the Book of Mark. And I don't know if this is what we're going to end up talking for the entirety of the episode. I don't know if we're just going to keep going with Mark. There's a particular story in the Book of Mark that I want to talk about.

And so we'll just go with wherever the Spirit takes us in this episode. Oh, Mark, right here. We're going to start right at the top of Mark 9. So Book of Mark, chapter 9, verse 1. Jesus went to say, I tell you the truth. some standing here right now will not die before they see the kingdom of God arrive in great power. Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed and his clothes became dazzling white.

Far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, Rabbi, it's wonderful for us to be here. Let's make three shelters as memorials. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He said this because he didn't really know what else to say, for they were all terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my dearly loved son. Listen to him. Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone and they saw only Jesus with them. As they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen

until the son of man had risen from the dead. So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by rising from the dead. Then they asked him, why did the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes? Jesus responded, Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. Yet why do the scriptures say that the son of man must to suffer greatly and be treated with utter contempt. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they choose to abuse him, just as the scriptures predicted. So after Peter James and John came down from this mountain with Jesus and had this extremely

spiritual yet kind of terrifying experience with Jesus, obviously he trusted the three of them out of the 12 disciples to reveal this too. So much so that he said, I don't want you to talk about this until the son of man has been raised from the dead. And they didn't even fully understand that yet because they weren't sure what that meant. We see that in scripture a few times where the disciples are kind of scratching their head about what do you mean raised from the dead? What do you mean three days later? The math didn't really math for them until they saw it happen. Then they remembered the things that Jesus had said and they go, oh, right. When the grave was empty, they said, yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense.

So after that whole experience, right, now we're going into 914 where Jesus heals a demon possessed boy. And it says, when they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. So then they come back and they see the rest of the disciples kind of in an argument with these religious teachers, right? When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe and they ran to greet him. What is all this arguing about? Jesus asked. One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won't let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the

mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn't do it. Jesus said to them, you faithless people, how long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me. And so in this part, I feel like Jesus is just kind of expressing his frustration. I don't think that this is something for us to take like Jesus is going to turn his back on these people. He clearly doesn't, especially when you see what it's about to happen. It's not that the Lord is like, I can't even deal with you guys anymore.

But I think Jesus will become frustrated, you know, and I think he's shown them and he's taught them these things and he's said things over and over again. And he's like, you guys have no faith. You faithless people. But he says, bring me the boy. So they brought the boy. but when the evil spirits saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion and he fell to the ground. Rithing and foaming at the mouth.

How long has this been happening? Jesus asked the boy's father. He replied, since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us if you can. What do you mean if I can? Jesus asked. Anything is possible if a person believes.

The father instantly cried. I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak, he said, I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again. Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd as people said he's dead.

but Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet and he stood up. Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, why couldn't we cast out that evil spirit? Jesus replied, this kind can be cast out only by prayer. And so what I think is so cool about that piece of scripture is that in, I think it's the King James version. So the KJV translation, it actually says that this type of demon can only be casted out by prayer and fasting. And so I think it's really interesting. And it's said a few times in the Bible where Jesus emphasizes the importance of fasting. And we've even had a whole podcast episode

about fasting and the importance of it. But this has been on my heart this morning. So this is me looping back to what I said before is that I just woke up and I felt this story and this particular scripture on my heart to talk about the importance of prayer and fasting. And I don't know. I think maybe we just need a reminder of it again. And I want to bring a POV that the Lord actually gave to me because I've been sitting with the scripture for a few days, actually. And then this morning, I was like, all right, we should just talk about this on the pod. But God gave me a visual the other day because Ashley and I have been talking about, you know, just the importance of prayer and how much we've been practicing our prayer and really just like praying about everything and anything.

Like we are praying about everything and anything. And we're just strengthening that muscle of truly trusting the Lord and bringing everything to him and praying for everything before we complain, before we doubt, before we throw a pity party for ourselves, before we start feeling anxious, before we start leaning on our own understanding, before we start feeling discouraged, like before any of that, we are going, okay, we need to actually just pray. And so this scripture was brought up in one of our conversations the other day. And I got this picture from the Lord of us fighting in the spiritual, right, against the the demonic, whether it's spiritual warfare, you know, we're feeling the attacks of the enemy.

And in the spirit, I see us holding weapons. Like, I see us holding a gun. And so God showed me, this visual of me holding a regular handgun. That really has done a great job at just, like, taken out the demons. Our gun is our prayer. Our gun is the word of God. Our gun is just everything that the Lord gives us to fight the demonic, right? and I saw this visual of demons that are like kind of up on buildings so I don't know I feel like men are

going to be able to really relate to this visual a lot okay this is what the Lord gave me is you know you're you're you're seeking out the enemy and I see that there's like a demon on a roof somewhere kind of in a corner like you just see like the corner of its head and it's it's really far away and it's kind of giving sneakier and so I saw the Lord like put a scope on the gun and then put like a laser pointer on the gun and then put like a silencer on it and it almost turned into a sniper gun you know and so because my regular handgun turned into a sniper I was actually able to like be more precise with my attack and my defense against the enemy and I could literally like snipe him out and just take him out like that but I probably wouldn't have been able to do that with a

regular old handgun. I might have missed a few times. Maybe I would have eventually gotten in, but it would have taken a lot more time. There's less precision with the enemy being in a sneakier position over there, right? And so I felt the Lord tell me that it's not that our prayer isn't enough. It's not that that handgun couldn't be enough. But it was the extra accessories brought onto that gun that brought it to a place of more precision where I could really like sniper out the enemy. And I really believe that that is what it's like to have prayer, our handgun, and fasting is like adding those extra accessories to our already weapon that we have to give us more accuracy. And so when we talked about prayer and fasting, I think it was in season one, maybe season two. When we were talking about the importance of fasting, yes, it brings us closer to the father.

Yes, it allows us to feel his presence. yes, it allows us to be more sensitive to the spirit. We have more of an awareness to the spirit when it comes to fasting. We hear the Lord clearer, that is for sure. But because of that, it's not just about our relationship with the Lord. It is. I love fasting for that reason because it does make me feel as if I am closer to my father. That's good.

It's good for relation as well. But it actually allows clarity to your mind. So you hear the Lord clearer, not just for relation, but for defense. because we're only going to gain any type of wisdom from our father. We're only going to gain any type of clarity on how to defend ourselves against the demonic through our father who knows best. And so when we're fasting, we're allowing ourselves to hear the father clearer so that we can attack and defend more accurately.

The other point of fasting is also so that we can hear specifically what we need to be praying in. So we could be praying a very vague prayer. And maybe we feel like that's not, it's not. it's not working. And it's not that there isn't power in our prayer. There has to be power in our prayer, especially because we are supposed to be interceding through the Holy Spirit. So as long as we are praying in agreement with the Holy Spirit, y'all, there's so much power in that. It's not that these type of demons are stronger than our prayer. It's just they're a little sneakier. And so we need

to be a little bit more specific with our prayer. We need to know how to really like snip them. And it's about the accuracy of our prayers to our God. And so what's cool about fasting is that the Lord will actually give you very specific things that you need to pray about, not just, God, protect me and my family, but, ooh, okay, God, you're showing me in the spiritual realm because of the fasting, right? It's taken off all distractions. You're resisting your flesh. You're denying it.

And now the Lord is actually revealing to you that it's a certain thing in your family member's life that's causing XYZ. Like, let's say that you want to pray for depression over this person. But because you're fasting, the Lord is showing you that the trigger to this person's depression is there's another person in their life that's speaking death into their ears. Or there's certain music that they're listening to that's triggering that depression, right? And so now you're not just praying into that person's depression. You're praying against the music or the other things that are affecting their life. that's leading them to those depressive episodes.

Do you understand the difference? Like there's power in prayer, but there's even more power in prayer and fasting because there's more precision to like really snip it. And so, yeah, I just had that revelation where I was like, dang, it's not that these demons are stronger. It's not that there are certain demons that are so, so, so, so strong that they can only be casted out with prayer and fasting.

Prayer ain't enough. You've got to fast too. It's not so much about the demons. it's more about the clarity of our mind being able to see what kind of demon we're dealing with. What are we fighting? And how do we fight it? And I'm not necessarily saying that my POV is right right now, but I just think a lot of times, even myself, I've read that scripture and I've been like, dang, there are some demons that are like so bad

that not even my prayer works. You know what I mean? From my understanding and what I feel the Lord has revealed to me. even just through that visual is that it's not that the demons are stronger. It's not that our prayer isn't enough. It's actually more about us and less about the demon. It's more about us receiving more clarity, denying our flesh and allowing our spirit man to grow through fasting

and become stronger, more discerning, and understanding more of what we're fighting against and how to defend ourselves. And so, yeah, fasting is so important. I think, and if you're going to ask, like, how do I know when to fast? How do I know how often to fast? I know we've kind of covered this in another episode, but I really, I feel it heavy that we're supposed to talk about it again.

I think the best times to fast is, well, one, when you don't feel like you have any clarity at all from the Lord, where you're like, you know what, God? I actually just have no idea what you could be telling me. I have no clarity. I don't even know how to pray for this thing. I would consider fasting. I think that would be a beautiful opportunity to fast is if you've been really feeling super distracted, super foggy, you don't feel like you've been hearing the voice of God.

Girl, boy, you better fast. There have been times where I've gone months without fasting and then I realize, wow, I actually really need to fast. Like, I need to hear from the Lord in this. I think if you have a really big decision to make, you know, when there's big life altering kind of decisions, whether it has to do with your job, relationship, you know, I think those are really good opportunities to fast. It doesn't even have to always be for yourself.

You can fast for other people. Like I said, when I use the example of somebody that you know and love that struggles with depression or anxiety, I mean, you can fast for others and pray for clarity from the Lord of how you can be interceding specifically for that person. I don't think this is actually a coincidence. I just opened back up to the book of Mark, and I opened to 118. And it says a discussion about fasting. So let's just read this and see what it has to say.

Once when John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, why don't your disciples fast like John's disciples and the Pharisees do? Jesus replied, Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can't fast while the groom is with them. But someday, the groom will be taken away from them,

and then they will fast. Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine into old wine skin, for the wine would burst the wine skin, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wine skin. Oh, y'all, I was wrong. It's Mark 218.

I'm sorry. please forgive me why did the disciples of john and the pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast so the pharisees were all known for fasting twice a week which is referred to in luke 1812 it made sense for the disciples of john to fast because his ministry stressed repentance so we're talking about john the baptist and so when we say that his ministry was stressed on repentance If we remember back to what we even discussed a couple episodes ago, I think, when we were talking about John and how his role before Jesus was to pave the path and prepare people and their hearts, spreading the word of Jesus, the Messiah, coming, being born into the world. And so with that, he stressed repentance. He was like, y'all, we got to repent for our sins because the Messiah is coming.

He's coming. So it made sense for John's disciples to fast because of how his ministry was stressing repentance. Yet Jesus and his disciples did not have the same emphasis on fasting as these other spiritual men. God is not against fasting. He is for fasting. But fasting has its time and place in the Christian life. Most of us have no time or no place for fasting. And so we are out of balance.

These questionnaires came from the other side. Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? By using this illustration of a wedding, the bridegroom, Jesus drew on a powerful picture among the Jews. During the week-long wedding celebration, rabbis declared that joy was more important than observing religious rituals. In the days of Jesus, some rabbis declared that if the observance of any law came in the way of having a good time during a wedding, you didn't have to keep the law.

You could just go and have a good time. Marriage feasts were times of extraordinary festivity and even of riot among several people of the East. Jesus' message was bold and clear. I'm not like the Pharisees or John the Baptist. I am the Messiah, the bridegroom to the people of God. Wherever I am, it is appropriate to have the joy we have. associate with weddings. The day will come, they will fast in those days. So Jesus knew his physical,

immediate presence would not always be with the disciples. When he was physically gone, it would be more appropriate to fast. Now we're getting back into the verse where Jesus was talking about sewing a piece of unshrunk cloth to an old garment, right? No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth to an old garment, aka what we just read in my NLT translation, who would put a patch of old clothing with new cloth. The danger of trying to put something new on something old is clear in the illustration of a garment and its patch. But the same principle was true for wine skins. A wine skin, which is just a container back then, I believe it was made out of like cow's skin, like a leather? A wine skin expanded under the pressure of fermentation, which is when the wine like ages.

So if new and unfurmented wine was put in an old and brittle wine skin, it was sure to burst. So when you have a fresh wine skin, it's nice and firm. But with the fermentation, when you pour the new wine into the new wine skin, the wine skin actually expands, the leather expands. and then it's like perfectly aged. But after that, the wine skin is kind of stretched out. It's not what it was, which is why Jesus is saying you wouldn't put new wine into an old wine skin that's already been stretched out. Because if you were to do that, he says that the wine and the skins would both be lost.

New wine calls for the new wine skin. Putting a new wine into the old wine skin and the wine goes through that fermentation process, the wine skin would probably explode or just fall apart. Not only is the wine skin ruined, but then the wine is spilt everywhere, and it's also ruined. Jesus's point was made clear by these examples. If you can't fit his new life into the old forms,

Jesus traded fasting for feasting, sack cloth and ashes for a robe of righteousness, a spirit of heaviness for a garment of praise, mourning for joy, and law for grace. Through the centuries, old, rigid forms could rarely contain the work of the Holy Spirit. Through the generations, God often looks for new wineskins because the old ones won't stretch any further.

Jesus came to introduce something new, not to patch up something old. This is what salvation is all about. In doing this, Jesus doesn't destroy the old, aka the law. He doesn't destroy the Old Testament, but he fulfills it. Just as an acorn is fulfilled when it grows into an oak tree. There is a sense in which the acorn is gone, but its purpose is fulfilled in greatness. You can't fast when the groom is with them, but someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. I am the Messiah, the bridegroom to the people of God.

wherever I am, it is appropriate to have the joy we associate with weddings. Well, that's so good and sweet. I love that the Lord just brought us to that. And you know what's cool is that fasting can look like so many different things. Sometimes if I don't feel like truly fasting food, I will fast something. So a lot of times that ends up being social media, where I just won't be on social media for a day or two. Just anything that you believe is making you foggy.

anything that could allow you to focus on the father more and receive more clarity. But I do believe fasting food is probably the clearest I've ever heard the Lord is when I'm fasting food. And I'm still drinking like maybe smoothies or bone broth or water. You know, like I'm still drinking liquids throughout the day, but fasting a solid food. And you could always do that from the morning until the evening. Like sometimes I don't even fast for a full 24 hours. I will fast just until the evening.

So when I wake up in the day, I just keep going. I might have a couple smoothies throughout the day. I'm drinking a lot of water, staying hydrated. It's always really important too. But then not eating until dinner time. And that fast throughout the day, sometimes that's enough for me to be like, whoa, Lord, I hear you. I hear you.

Why don't we keep reading in the book of Mark, actually? I just want to read a few more verses and just see where else it takes us. Now we're starting at Mark 930, leaving that region. they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn't want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, the son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later, he will rise from the dead. They didn't understand what he was saying. However, they were afraid to ask him what he meant. So this is another example of how Jesus had told the disciples again, kind of foreshadowing and predicting his death,

but at this point, they were a little scared to even ask. They didn't understand, but they were like, I don't think we really want to know what that means. After they arrived at Copernum and settled in the house, Jesus asked his disciples, what were you discussing out on the road? But they didn't answer because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the 12 disciples over to him and said, whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else. Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me, but also my father who sent me. Why do we think that Jesus used a little

kid as an example when ministering to his disciples. I want to just like read into that a little bit more. Okay, that was Mark 9.36. Jesus drew their attention to his nature by presenting a child as an example. In that day, children were regarded more as property than individuals. It was understood that they were to be seen and not heard. Jesus said that the way that we receive people regarded like children, shows how we would receive him. Children are not threatening. We aren't afraid of meeting a five-year-old in a dark alley. When we have a tough, intimidating presence, we aren't like Jesus. Children are not good at deceiving. They don't do a very good job at fooling their parents. When we are good at hiding ourselves and deceiving others, we aren't like Jesus. Because Jesus is last of all and

servant of all and like a child when we honor and receive a child or someone who is a servant like Jesus we honor and receive Jesus himself that's really good that's really good john said to jesus teacher we saw someone using your name to cast out demons but we told him to stop because he wasn't in our group don't stop him jesus said no one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better to

enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It's better to enter the kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out. For Everyone will be tested with fire. Salt is good for seasoning, but if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.

Okay, let's go back to where Jesus said, for he who is not against us is on our side. There are many that may be wrong in some aspect of their presentation or teaching, yet they still set forth Jesus in some matter. Let God deal with them. Those who are not against a biblical Jesus are still for him, at least in some way. Paul saw many men preaching Jesus from many motives, some of them evil, yet he could rejoice that Christ was preached. Okay. This makes me think about, and I'm just saying this because pop culture, I don't know if that's

relevant in your life. The only reason some like pop culture or news is relevant is because I be scrolling on TikTok and it just comes up on my for you page, you know? But there was, what did Sabrina Carpenter do? Was it during Coachella or something where she used the name of Jesus? Or no, it was like a music video or something that was like low-key mocking Christianity. Right? She was filming it in a church or whatever.

Her last name is Carpenter. Sabrina Carpenter, she's a singer. And she wore a t-shirt during Coachella or one of her big performances after, like, being scrutinized for her blasphemy, blasphemy. And she wore a shirt that said even Jesus was a carpenter. And granted, I don't think Sabrina is a believer, but to me, I thought that was a win. And this is why I just thought of that,

is because Paul saw many men preaching Jesus for many motives, some of them evil, yet he could rejoice that Christ was being preached. Sometimes, y'all, we got to just rejoice that the name of Jesus is being said. because granted, was Sabrina Carpenter up there preaching the gospel? No. But was she wearing a literal t-shirt in front of probably millions of people? Aside from the people who were there, I'm talking about the people also just all throughout the internet

that were watching this online. She's wearing a t-shirt with the name of Jesus on it. Y'all, that's a win for Christians. Do you know how many people were probably like, who is Jesus the carpenter? Who is Jesus? I'm going to be like Paul right now and just rejoice that Christ was even being preached. on that stage in Coachella, that the name of Jesus was on that stage.

And so I think, yeah, that's what Jesus is basically saying here, is that there are many that may be wrong in some aspect of their presentation or their teaching, yet they still set forth Jesus in some manner, and that that is not up for us to handle. That's what the Lord will handle from there. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, Because of this principle of unity, it is appropriate to show kindness to others in the name of Jesus. Even a cup of water if given in the nature of Jesus will be rewarded.

Nothing could seem more petty than giving a mere cup of water. But God remembers the heart, not only the gift itself. Okay, so then moving on to the part where Jesus says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble. If a small act of kindness towards others done in Jesus' name will be eternally remembered, so will any cause for stumbling. And the punishment is severe. It would be better for him if the millstone were hung around his neck

and he was thrown into the sea. Some Christians think nothing of drawing young, weak Christians into their own little squallibles and divisions. They themselves emerge without much damage, but the little ones they brought with them into the squabble often end up shipwrecked. So I think essentially what this part of the scripture is saying as well is that misleading others is a huge deal to Jesus. For your own motives, for your own selfish gain,

maybe your own opinions, there could be people that are preaching the gospel out of a place of, yeah, just straight up opinions. It's not really biblical. And they're misleading people in the church because of that. That is a serious offense against the Lord. Like, that's scary to mislead people. which is also why what I'm doing here on the podcast is a blessing, but also when you are leading people

and you are preaching the gospel and you are using the name of Jesus, it is very serious that you are not doing it out of a place that is not fully set on, you know, just the truth of God and Jesus. And so I do believe I've tried my best with doing that. I believe I've had a pure heart. But it is a higher calling. and it's a serious thing to not mislead people for your own selfish gain or opinions and not from a pure heart. And we've seen that. We've seen that in the church at times. If your hand makes you sin cut it off. Tragically, some have taken these words of Jesus in a sense

he did not intend to have cut off their hands or have mutilated themselves in some other way in a mistaken battle against sin. The problem with taking Jesus's words literally here is is that bodily mutilization does not go far enough in controlling sin. Sin is more a matter of the heart than any particular limb or organ. And if I cut off my right hand, my left is still ready to sin. If I completely dismember my body, I can still sin in my mind and in my heart. This was not a demand for physical self-harm. But in the strongest manner possible, Jesus speaks of the sacrifices.

Okay, guys, well, to be honest, I guess that's where we could start in Mark. Wow, we covered a few different things. I almost feel like that was low-key unfinished. Maybe we could pick this up next week. But yeah, Jesus is filled with wisdom. He knows the most and he knows best. And so let's just listen to what he says. Yeah, pray often, fast, seek his wisdom.

He is the only thing that can truly get us through this life. We've said it before. It's scripture where God says that he's actually given us the key. to life, which is his wisdom, which is the Word of God, which is Jesus, which was him tearing the veil from top to bottom so that we can access his wisdom whenever we want and however often we want. So let's not take advantage of that. And let's exercise all the things that the Lord encourages us to do, including fasting, praying, having faith, seeking his wisdom, getting in the secret place, doing all the things to strengthen our walk with the Lord. I love you guys. I hope that you have

an incredible rest of your week. Thank you for joining us this Friday. And I just love y'all. And can we do something kind of cool today? Can we show somebody how cool Jesus is? Let's share the Word of God. Let's share his love. Let's share his wisdom with somebody today.

And let's just look at someone like Jesus would. Like truly look at somebody and let them feel so seen. Like, I want to have eyes like the Lord. And so I encourage all of you guys in that. I love y'all. I'm really proud of you guys. And I will see you next week. Bye.

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