C H O F Ministry

Tag: Disciples

  • “Yeast Helps Skepticism to Rise”

    10 27 2019 week 2 Bishop Houston's Sunday Morning Mark 8 1 thru 21
    If you’ve ever baked bread, you know that yeast is a key ingredient. It’s amazing how a bit of granulated yeast is so powerful. It lives, it’s active, and it’s essential for baked bread to rise. In this morning’s passage, it uses yeast for caution about disbelief.

    Beloved, at this point in Mark’s narrative, you would hope the disciples could identify the pattern in Jesus’ ministry and learn. If you compare the accounts of the feeding of the 5,000 and then the 4,000, in Mark 6:35 and Mark 8:4 both of them have many similarities. In both, they describe the setting as a “remote place.” In both events the disciples encouraged Jesus to “send the people away” (*1) and to “send them home hungry” (*2). In both encounters, the disciples asked about the shortage of “bread” (*3). And even if the disciples didn’t recall the comparison of the words within these two conversations, you would think when Jesus asked the same question (“How many loaves do you have?”) they would have recalled the feeding of the 5,000 (*4).
     
    Instead of saying, “Hey, wait a minute. This should be no problem for you,” they didn’t seem to understand. When Jesus directed the crowd to “sit down,” there was another opportunity for the disciples to trust Jesus. Just as He had done in the past, He would again use their insufficient resources to show compassion for the huge crowd.
     
    As you can see Beloved, they apparently bought into the uncertainty or “yeast” of the Pharisees and didn’t understand Jesus’ true identity. Yet, just as Jesus rejected to give the Pharisees a sign from heaven to appease their skepticism, He also warned the disciples against adopting the Pharisees’ position of unbelief. Beloved, disbelief, like yeast, can grow and multiply. It requires faith to recognize that Jesus is God the Son.
     
    Let Us Pray:
    Dear Heavenly Father, once again we thank You for Your words of Wisdom. This morning we’ve added faith as we rise and prepare for our Sunday journey. Our belief is in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen and Amen.
     
    Beloved, life is very short. It comes and goes like an unannounced gust of wind. None of us know the hour or day when that gust of wind may enter our room and blow out our earthly light. So today, reach out and touch someone and tell them you love them, BECAUSE TELLING THEM LATER JUST MIGHT BE – TOO LATE. I LOVE YOU ALL!!! – Have a “Blessed” Sunday.
     
    CHOF Ministry Cross-Reference Verses:
    *1. Mark 6:36
    *2. Mark 8:2-3
    *3. Mark 6:37 & Mark 8:4
    *4. Mark 6:38 & Mark 8:5

  • “God Is in Unexpected Places”

    Bishop Houston's Weekend Words John 21 4
    Praise the Lord Beloved!!!

    What an awesome day to serve the Lord!!! 😀
     
    A few days ago I was in a department store and a lady, I hadn’t seen in years walked up to me spoke and started talking to me – I could not remember her name for nothing!!! After our conversation I guiltily asked First Lady, Donece what her name was. Beloved, have you ever seen somebody you knew but couldn’t recall who they were, what was their name, or how you knew them? I have met many people in my 60 plus years and there have been occurrences when I have recognized someone visually but not internally. Well, I believe in a sense this feeling is similar to that of the disciples when they saw Jesus on the beach the morning this story in history took place. (*1.)
     
    Just as the disciples found difficulty in identifying God, we sometimes do too. I saw a commercial on social media about a little boy who left home one morning to search for God. On his search, he finds himself sharing a Twinkie snack cake with an elderly woman. When the commercial ends, both the boy and the elderly woman tell their friends they unexpectedly saw God today. (*2)
     
    Beloved, it’s an awesome thing, seeing God in unexpected places, isn’t it? 😀
    Amen? – Aaamen. 😀
     
    Let us Pray:
    Dear Heavenly Father, from time to time we get so wrapped up in the world around us that we miss those special moments when You reveal Yourself to us while sharing a moment with someone we just met or on a shoreline like the disciples. As we live our lives help us recognize You better.
    In Jesus’ Name I Pray, Amen and Aaamen.
     
    Have a great Friday and blessed Weekend.
     
    CHOF Ministry’s Cross Reference Scriptures
    *1. John 21:4