Mark 12:1-12

[snapstur]

@Shield> okay, let's get started
@Shield> I am going to mute the channel, so that we can press forward
@Shield> Good evening everyone and welcome to this slightly delayed edition of the CCNet server meeting and Bible study.
@Shield> I do have some important things to bring to your attention
Shield> First off, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes
@Shield> BrianO and BrianB have been working feverishly on a number of technical enhancements to services and the forums.
@Shield> There is a great deal of creativity which they are bringing to bear on their projects.
@Shield> We are deeply indebted to their hard work, giving of their free time sacrificially to make these things happen.
@Shield> Others also have added their creative input.
@Shield> But those two really are the brain trust and brawn behind getting it done.
@Shield> So much thanks is owed to them.
@Shield> As some of you might know CCNet was birthed when BrianB called into the Lighthouse21 radio show and suggested to BrianO that they should offer chat.
@Shield> And here we are, the Christian Chat Network, over twelve years later.
@Shield> A little wiser.
@Shield> Significantly older.
@Shield> We believe that God has an awesome purpose for CCNet.
@Shield> We have seen God change many lives over the years.
@Shield> In fact those of you who are women have an opportunity to interact with a user named Debbie in #Spiritled_Woman on Saturday, 31 May, at 9 PM EST.
@Shield> Ten years ago she was suicidal.
@Shield> Now she sings God's praises and thanks him for his work in her life.
@Shield> See Bethel for more information. It will be well worth your time.
@Shield> This is just one of hundreds of testimonies from over the years.
@Shield> If you want to be on our weekly mailing list, go to this URL:
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@Shield> We will be sending out a weekly email to inform you of new services we offer, and give you breaking news.
@Shield> But...
@Shield> you don’t have to wait
@Shield> nosiree
@Shield> because YOU made the effort to be here right now
@Shield> right here
@Shield> I am going to give you some information which others will see in the weeks to come in the emails
@Shield> ready?
@Shield> are you sure?
@Shield> here we go
@Shield> Number one...
@Shield> On forums.christian-chat.net, we have enabled blogging for each and every user.
@Shield> If you are a registered forum user, you can activate it now by going to your account and your profile.
@Shield> Number Two...
@Shield> On the forums, we have enabled social networking.
@Shield> You may added friends and join groups of common interest
@Shield> You can also create groups
@Shield> So no longer is it merely a forum with threads.
@Shield> It is becoming more of a community.
@Shield> And you are a key part of that.
@Shield> Number Three...
@Shield> There are some really cool features on the way for chat, which we are not quite yet ready to unveil.
@Shield> Both the social networking and the chat features will be a work in progress.
@Shield> So that means there will be more very big announcements forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
@Shield> Join the email list if you haven’t already
@Shield> If you are a registered user on chat or the forums, you probably already received the first email.
@Shield> More to come soon, I promise:)
@Shield> At this time, I am going to open in prayer with apologies to seekHm1st for my long announcement time:)
@Shield> Let's pray
@Shield> Our Father,
@Shield> We are so grateful
@Shield> We thank you for giving us the tools and the opportunities to show your love to others all around the world via the internet.
@Shield> We thank you for entrusting to us the responsibility of the great commission of making disciples of all nations.
@Shield> We thank you for BrianB and BrianO who have labored tirelessly behind the scenes so that we would have this opportunity.
@Shield> And we thank you for the IRCops, channel founders and ops and all the users who give of themselves to help others.
@Shield> Be glorified in all we say and do, and please minister in and through seekHm1st as he leads us in this study tonight, In Jesus name amen.
@seekHm1st> Amen
@seekHm1st> Hi folks
@seekHm1st> Thanks for being here.
@seekHm1st> And thanks for the prayer Shield, and the rather exciting announcements
Rose> amen
@seekHm1st> Last week, we were in Mark 11, and 'listening' to a confrontation that took place at the temple.
@seekHm1st> It happened between Jesus and the leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.
@seekHm1st> These men had decided to challenge, to question His authority.
@seekHm1st> They didn't know who they were up against though
@seekHm1st> and in an attempt to please men instead of God, they chose not to answer Jesus' question one way or another.
@seekHm1st> So as we move into Mark chapter 12, their interaction continues.
@seekHm1st> Jesus began using a story, a parable, to speak to not only the religious leaders, but to all of the people present.
@seekHm1st> He was using something all of His listeners would be familiar with, a wine vineyard, as a backdrop to the story.
@seekHm1st> Because it was a story the people were compelled to listen, in order to discern the truth of it.
@seekHm1st> I imagine that He caught their attention from the very first verse.
@seekHm1st> 12:1Then He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.
@seekHm1st> 2 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.
@seekHm1st> 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.
@seekHm1st> 5 And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. 6 Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
@seekHm1st> 7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
@seekHm1st> Okay.....
@seekHm1st> In verse 1, the vineyard planted represents the nation of Israel.
@seekHm1st> Israel is the nation, the people, through which God would reveal His plan of salvation to the world.
@seekHm1st> God is represented in the parable by the man who planted the vineyard.
@seekHm1st> 9 "Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.
@seekHm1st> 10 Have you not even read this Scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
@seekHm1st> 11This was the Lord's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
@seekHm1st> 12And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and
@seekHm1st> went away.
@seekHm1st> Who were the 'servants' in the parable? o/
@seekHm1st> Anyone?
Clark> o/
@seekHm1st> Clark?
Clark> the propects? I can't spell it
@seekHm1st> Prophets?
Clark> yes\
@seekHm1st> Yes, the servants in the parable were the prophets and also the priests of God who in faith remained true to Him
@seekHm1st> Who is represented by the son? o/
Clark> o/
@seekHm1st> Yes Clark?
Clark> Jesus Christ
@seekHm1st> Precisely
@seekHm1st> Thank you
Clark> you're welcome
@seekHm1st> Obviously at this point, the religious leaders were angry. They were very angry.
Clark> try furious
@seekHm1st> They were angry enough to lay hands on Jesus. They weren't out to pray for Him.
@seekHm1st> They knew that He had just given not only themselves, but the crowd around them an illustration of their hearts and behaviors.
@seekHm1st> By giving this parable to His listeners, Jesus had exposed them as murderers.
@seekHm1st> He also gave them fair warning that their wickedness would not go unpunished.
@seekHm1st> I do not say that every single member of the Sanhedrin was that way, that every Pharisee was that way....
@seekHm1st> There was Nicodemus and there were others.....
@seekHm1st> But these men were so possessive of the power and positions they held, that they turned their backs on the very responsibility they had before God to lead the people to Him.
@seekHm1st> 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
@seekHm1st> Jesus quoted that verse from Psalm 118. Who was He talking about? o/
Deacon> o/
@seekHm1st> Deacon?
Deacon> himself
@seekHm1st> Yes
Clark smiles at Deacon
@seekHm1st> And Deacon, what is a cornerstone in a building, would you care to describe it?
@seekHm1st> I know I am putting you on the spot.
Deacon> It’s the first stone laid
@seekHm1st> right
@seekHm1st> What else could be said about it?
Deacon> all others go from it
@seekHm1st> Right!
@seekHm1st> The cornerstone was the very base, or foundation of a building.
@seekHm1st> If the cornerstone was straight and true, the rest of the stones built upon it could be straight and true too.
@seekHm1st> Like a solid, dependable stone without flaw, perfect and straight and true, Jesus' life and His teaching would be the foundation for His structure, the church.
@seekHm1st> This was the Lord's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes
@seekHm1st> So they left Him and went away.
@seekHm1st> Did they understand the parable? o/
Deacon> o/
@seekHm1st> Deacon?
Deacon> nawwwwww
@seekHm1st> :)
@seekHm1st> The Bible says that they knew that Jesus had spoken the parable against them.......
@seekHm1st> but I think you're right.
@seekHm1st> We don't really know that they understood it.
@seekHm1st> Do you think they knew who Jesus was?
GwennaJane> I thought He spoke in parables so they wouldn't understand him?
@seekHm1st> For those who would not willingly, yes, and for those who were seeking truth, a different story.
GwennaJane> Yes.
@seekHm1st> We have to remember that He spoke different parables, at different times.
@seekHm1st> And in different situational contexts as well.
GwennaJane> I can't remember who he was speaking to in the parable of the cornerstone.
@seekHm1st> So, do any of you think that the religious leaders knew who Jesus was?
Clark> o/
Clark> They probably did, but denied it in their hearts
GwennaJane> Yes. I think some of them knew but found it hard to believe because of what they'd been expecting. A King to Rule - not this Jesus.
Clark> or did not believe
@seekHm1st> Would it be fair to say that as teachers and keepers of the law, the holy Scriptures, that they should have known Him? Who He was?
Deacon> I think they were jealous of Him too
@seekHm1st> I think so too.
GwennaJane> I'm wondering about that. Did the old testament make it clear? If so, where?
@seekHm1st> Well, His entrance into Jerusalem, a couple of days previous, even His riding on a donkey, had been predicted in the old Testament.
GwennaJane> My daughter is converting to Judaism because she says she's not sure Jesus was the Messiah. She says the old testament prophesies don't point to it being Jesus. I'd sure like to dispute that with her but not sure how.
@seekHm1st> To the very day.
Clark> They were expecting all the Earthly qualities of a King maybe, Jesus was just too loving, kind, gentle and good to fit into their qualifications
GwennaJane> Where? can you give me reference?
Clark> I left out humble
@seekHm1st> Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
@seekHm1st> As to the passages with dates, and such, those would be harder for me to look up in this venue, but they are there.
GwennaJane> Thank you so much. Where would I find other references? She seems to think the Messiah would not have died.
@seekHm1st> In any event, His coming should not have been missed.
@seekHm1st> In fact, His death was predicted too, more than once.
@seekHm1st> In the Old Testament, and from His own lips.
nova> ahh but GwennaJane Jesus didn’t die exactly remember he was not bound by death and overcame it
GwennaJane> I'm searching. Thank you. Please remember my daughter in prayer. Her decision affects not only herself but her husband and my grandson.
nova> unlike us (for now) when he died his physical body was resurrected beating death
GwennaJane> Amen. I "know" and see that. She used to but has become confused. I'm worried.
@seekHm1st> I suggest that you might want to go to the forums, and read the last several studies leading up to this one.
@seekHm1st> And read the associated chapters in Mark
@seekHm1st> I think it would prove helpful to you.
GwennaJane> Okay. Thanks.
@seekHm1st> You're welcome :)
@seekHm1st> Anyway, these men were not done.
@seekHm1st> They kept coming at Him.
@seekHm1st> And.........
@seekHm1st> I think we'll leave it right there for tonight.
@seekHm1st> Let's close in prayer.
@seekHm1st> Father, we thank You for loving us so much,
@seekHm1st> that You sacrificed Your only begotten and beloved Son for us.
@seekHm1st> We will never be able to comprehend what that was like for You.
@seekHm1st> And in our hearts, I think we know that we ourselves could not handle the magnitude of that anguish
@seekHm1st> But through that, You have given us great joy
@seekHm1st> And You have given us the amazing gift of Your presence in our lives.
@seekHm1st> Father, help us to glorify You in the way that we live those lives.
@seekHm1st> And help us to grow ever closer to You and ever stronger in You.
@seekHm1st> We ask these things in Jesus' name.
@seekHm1st> Amen
Deacon> Amen
Snapstur> Amen
@seekHm1st> Thanks folks, for being here tonight.
Deacon> thank you
GentleDove> amen
@seekHm1st> Appreciate it very much.
angelbaby> amen
@Shield> amen:)
@seekHm1st> Great questions and answers folks
GentleDove> Glad to be here to learn more
@Shield> thank you everyone and thank you seekHm1st
@seekHm1st> Thanks for that too :)
@seekHm1st> You're welcome.
sunnylady> amen
@seekHm1st> Thanks Shield :)
nova> amen