Getting Real With God

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Getting Real With God</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id98.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rising to the Challenge of Following Chr"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id132.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Getting Real with God 2"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Ministry Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Mark 11, “Getting Real with God” (part 1), Berean Bible Church, November 12, 2000</B></div> <bR> <div>      We often find ourselves going through motions. “We have, in fact, two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice, and another which we practice but seldom preach” (Bertrand Russell, <I>Sceptical Essays</I>). <U>Integrity</U> is when what you are the inside, you are, struggles and all. <U>Hypocrisy</U> is when what you are on the <I>outside</I> is what you want people to <I>think</I> you are even though you are not. We need to get real with God, especially in the realm of faith, which this chapter addresses.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. Mark 11.1-33, Jesus challenged the hypocrisy of the leaders and people of Israel.</B></div> <div> Context: This was the final week before Jesus’ death. He knew exactly what the week held (Mark 9.30-32, 10.33-34).</div> <div> A. Jesus’ Triumphal Entry, vss. 1-11. Jesus’ popularity was high, but it would not remain high; people didn’t understand what he came to do or what it would cost him (or them).</div> <div> B. The Fruitless Tree (2 stages), vss. 12-14, 20-25. Jesus was making a statement about Israel and her rulers, who loved religion but did not truly worship God and accept Jesus. He challenged his followers to be people of faith.</div> <div> C. Cleansing of the Temple, vss. 15-19. Hypocrisy is seen in how the Temple was treated. Jesus action reveals the true heart of the religious authorities.</div> <div> D. Challenge to Jesus’ Authority, vss. 27-33. The next day, the religious authorities tried to reestablish their own authority in front of the people. It did not work. To them, Jesus was getting further out of control.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. The Point: In times when others are hypocrites, God’s people must be people of real faith, vss. 22-25.</B> The whole Christian experience is based on your willingness to trust God. It is inconsistent of us when we trust God for our eternal destiny in salvation, but we are unwilling to trust him with our day to day lives. Jesus knew the sufferings that were ahead for himself and his disciples. The world would seem unfair, but they needed to be people of genuine faith. So do we.</div> <bR> <div> <B>III. </B><I><B>Exercise</B></I><B> faith (in three areas).</B> </div> <div> In verse 23, the mountain equals an impossibility. The will of God is assumed in these verses (see Mark 10.36f., James’ and John’s request; see also Mark 14.36, when Jesus was in the Garden, he prayed but submitted his will to the Father's will).</div> <div> A. Faith can be exercised in three areas.</div> <div> 1. Exercise faith regarding what Jesus came to do (it seemed like foolishness, 1 Cor 1.18-25).</div> <div> 2. Exercise faith regarding cultural authorities. The system was stacked against Jesus and his followers.</div> <div> 3. Exercise faith regarding sufferings and persecutions. This includes dealing with those hostile to your faith as well as the difficulties of living in a world filled with sin and evil. Jesus knew this was coming for his followers.</div> <div> B. Faith has two characterstics</div> <div> 1. It is exercised through active prayer. </div> <div> You may have seen Guaranteed Overnight Delivery trucks driving down the highway; on the back, they say in big letters "G. O. D." and "call 1_800_DIAL_GOD."  The true God is more reliable than they, but they picked a reliable person to be associated with. Experiencing his reliability means we must ask in faith, pray!</div> <div> 2. It is exercised without hypocrisy (vs. 25). Be forgiving when you have issues with someone or someone has issues with you. Don’t pretend that everything is all right between you and God if things are not all right with you and others.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>