|
We are
in Galilee with Yeshua and His disciples. They
had ben sent out on their first mission. They
return and report back to their Rabbi the results.
The apostles gathered together with Yeshua;
and they reported to Him all that they had done
and taught. They were pleased to be able to
report that God had used them to heal many people,
and cast out evil spirits. They taught people
to repent, to turn to God, and draw near to Him,
and to Yeshua. Like the apostles, we must do and
teach. We must go out to seek the lost, and bring
the message of salvation to others, and help free
those who are captives of the Kingdom of Darkness,
and bring the blessings of God to others.
After
their mission, and serving the Lord can tire you
out physically and emotionally, they were tired.
And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves
to a secluded place and rest a while.” They
needed to get away to rest and recuperate, for
there were many people coming and going, and they
did not even have time to eat. Again, Yeshua
was extremely popular and crowds followed Him
everywhere. They were close to the Kinneret, and
so they went away in the boat to a secluded
place by themselves.
But, something
happened that interfered with their plans. The
people saw them going, and many recognized them
and ran there together on foot from all the cities,
and got there ahead of them. Talk about popularity!
When Yeshua went ashore, He saw a large crowd,
and He felt – what? Upset? Angry with the
crowds for not respecting their need for privacy,
and to get away from everyone. No, He felt compassion
for them because they were like sheep without
a shepherd. They were lost, and leaderless,
and needed good spiritual guidance. They needed
to hear the Word of God being taught without man-made
traditions added to it. They needed to hear about
God, and salvation, and about the One that God
sent to give us the help we so desperately need
– Himself. And so the Good Shepherd, putting
aside His own needs, and the needs of His disciples,
selflessly began to teach them many things.
This tells
us that from time to time the Lord will call upon
His committed disciples, to sacrifice their time,
their rest, their vacations, their conveniences
for the sake of helping Him serve the multitudes
of humanity. You can expect that if you are a
committed disciple.
When
it was already quite late, His disciples came
to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it
is already quite late; send them away so that
they may go into the surrounding countryside and
villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
That was thoughtful of the apostles. They
too were concerned about the needs of the thousands
of people that were present. They offered a practical
solution. But Yeshua had a better and more interesting
plan. Yeshua knew that hunger for the Lord, and
the willingness to take be inconvenienced, and
go into a desolate place, would cause God to act
in a special way. But He answered them, “You
give them something to eat!” And they said to
Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii
(the denarius was a Roman silver coin that
paid the daily salary of a worker. Two hundred
denarii would be worth about 20,000 dollars in
today’s money – that’s a lot of kesef!) on
bread and give them something to eat?” “Lord,
that’s a lot of money! But buying the food was
not what the King who came from Heaven had in
mind when He said, “You give them something to
eat.”
And
He said to them, “How many loaves do you have?
Go look!” And when they found out, they said,
“Five, and two fish.” Not a lot, but with
Yeshua present, and good leaders willing to help
Him help the multitudes of needy humanity, great
things can happen! And He commanded them all
to sit down by groups on the green grass. They
sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.
And He took the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up toward Heaven – praying with
His eyes open, looking up toward God, His Father
in Heaven, He blessed the food – He prayed
a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the food –
that’s what is meant by “blessing the food.”
First
Yeshua prayed, and then after giving thanks, they
were ready to eat. And then He broke the loaves
and something amazing happened. As Yeshua
divided the fives loaves of bread, which ordinarily
would have only fed a dozen or so, He kept
giving them to the disciples to set before them;
and He divided up the two fish among them all.
They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked
up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and
also of the fish. There were five thousand men
who ate the loaves.
I love
the way this ends – after having fed 5,000 men,
there was more food left over than there was to
begin with! That’s God! Amazing, abundant resources,
and able to do the miraculous when His people
draw near to Him and have faith! This miracle
shows that the God of Israel is the one true and
living God, and that Yeshua is the Messiah of
Israel, the One sent by God to meet all the needs
of the Jewish people, and those of the world.
Humanity
is like this crowd. We are in a desolate place,
leaderless, without the resources we need. We
need help! We need our physical needs to be met,
but even more importantly, we need spiritual nourishment.
Yeshua is that Leader who can help us physically
and spiritually!
6:45-52
– Yeshua Walks on Water
The next
incident again points us to Yeshua, as Someone
who is very special, who can help us overcome
the winds of life that blow against us. Immediately
Yeshua made His disciples get into the boat and
go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida
(on the northeast shore of the Kinneret) while
He Himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding
them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
Even though Yeshua constantly spoke to His
Father, there were special times of prayer when
He got alone, and prayed – and we ought to do
the same. We should talk to God throughout the
day, praising Him for who He is, and the great
things He has done, and being grateful and thankful
for all that He does for us, and seek guidance
to please Him that day. But, we also need special
times of more intense and concentrated prayer,
alone with the Lord.
When
it was evening, the boat was in the middle of
the lake, and He was alone on the land. Seeing
them straining at the oars, for the wind was against
them, at about the fourth watch of the night (from
3:00 to 6:00AM) He came to them, walking on the
lake. Very cool! Some insects can walk on
water, and I think I saw a documentary once with
a lizard running on water, but obviously normal
human beings under normal circumstances, can’t
walk on water. But here is Yeshua, walking on
the water of that lake! Yeshua is special, and
these were special circumstances, and God was
enabling His Son, through whom the universe was
made, to walk on water! Is that impossible to
believe? That the One who made this Blue Planet,
70% of whose surface is covered with this absolutely
amazing substance, water, is able to walk on it?
He
intended to pass by them. But when they saw Him
walking on the lake, they supposed that it was
a ghost – the spirit of someone who had died
– and cried out; for they all saw Him and were
terrified. He was visible to their sense of
sight. Now, if you were out in the middle of a
lake late at night, in a small boat, and you saw
something that looked like a man come within sight
of your boat, and your friends all saw it too,
you would probably be frightened as well!
Yeshua,
who at first intended not to get into the boat
with them, and most likely not speak to them,
when He was seen, changed His original plan and
helped meet their need. He was aware of their
terror, and did several things to take away their
fear. But immediately He spoke with them and
said to them, “Take courage; it is I, do not be
afraid.” First He told spoke to them. He began
by saying something positive – take courage. When
someone is in a scary situation, and a friend
comes along side and confidently says “be courageous,
be valiant, be brave, ” it helps. I’m sure this
helped the disciples. Then, He identified Himself
– “it is I.” “I’m not the spirit of a dead
person. I’m your capable Rabbi who cares for you,
your powerful Friend who is there for you. Fear
was not necessary in this situation.” The final
thing He said was to challenge them not to give
in to fear. A good challenge can help a man, and
Yeshua did just that for these men.
Next,
Yeshua further calmed their fears by getting into
the boat with them. Then He got into the boat
with them. It must have helped when their
trusted and capable leader, who had shown amazing
ability to master difficult circumstances before,
got into the boat with them.
Finally,
God allowed a miracle to occur. And the wind
stopped. The wind which had been blowing against
them, suddenly stopped, and they were able to
continue on their journey across the lake! It
was smooth sailing.
And
they were utterly astonished, for they had not
gained any insight from the incident of the loaves,
but their heart was hardened. Mark is very
honest. He tells us that deep down, in their heart,
at the core of their being, they should have already
understood that the Same One who, out of a few
loaves of bread and fish, had just fed 5,000 men,
would also be capable of walking on water, and
stilling the opposing winds.
They should
have understood that Yeshua was Someone very special,
empowered by God to do unparalleled miracles.
They should
have started understand that this is the Same
One who, out of nothing, spoke the universe into
being, and the Same One who spoke the universe
into being, was master of the elements, and able
to walked on water, and stop the winds from blowing.
The
Perfect Storm
Do you
understand and believe this? I hope so, because
I may be feeling the winds of what may form “The
Perfect Storm,” blowing, and we may need the help
of the One who is able to multiply the bread and
the fish, and stop the winds from blowing against
us, and calm our fears. The book and movie, “The
Perfect Storm,” described what happened when a
cold front coming down from Canada, and a storm
brewing over the Great Lakes, and a hurricane
coming north in the Atlantic, combined to form
one great storm, forming 100-foot waves and winds
topping 120 miles per hour. I’m sensing various
winds blowing, and I’m concerned that they may
combine into The Perfect Storm.
The
Storm of Economic Problems
We have
been the wealthiest nation in the world. God blessed
us with natural resources, and with wisdom, and
with a godly foundation. But, that may be changing.
At about
the time our original 13 states adopted their
new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish
history professor at the University of Edinborough,
said: "A democracy is always temporary in nature;
it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of
government. A democracy will continue to exist
up until the time that voters discover that they
can vote themselves generous gifts from the public
treasury. From that moment on, the majority always
votes for the candidates who promise the most
benefits from the public treasury, with the result
that every democracy will finally collapse over
loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed
by a dictatorship."
* When
the stock markets reached a peak in 2,000 and
then 9/11 hit, the government used massive monetary
and fiscal stimulus to prevent the economy from
going down any further. The Federal Reserve lowered
interests rates, the government went into further
deficit spending, and also lowered taxes. This
manipulative course of action had consequences.
It did stimulate parts of the economy. With low
interest rates, more people could afford a home,
which caused real estate prices to go up in value.
People learned how to extract money from their
homes by refinancing and home equity loans. They
spent the money, and plowed some back into stocks
and bonds and real estate and second houses. But
the results of the stimulus may be wearing off.
- The long-term upward trend of the market is
gone. It hasn’t gone anywhere in 6 years.
- Stock markets remain overvalued. The P/E ratios
are high – more than 14, which is average.
- Interest rates are still low, and may go up,
which means that bonds will go lower.
- Debt levels are very high. The national debt
is 7.8 trillion dollars, or about 28,000 per
person. For a family of four, that’s $112,000!
If you include the long term liabilities of
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, it comes
to around 125,000 dollars per person.
- Savings are extremely low. We are saving only
around 1% of our income. It is savings that
creates wealth – not consumption.
- Bankruptcy filings are on the rise.
- Our trade deficit is at a record level. The
wealth of the nation is slowly being transferred
to others. Foreign investors are accruing assets
– stocks, bond and real estate. The danger is
that they might suddenly unload these assets
one day.
- Some of our key corporations are extremely
overextended. Doug Nolan observes that Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, with their combined books
of business of $3.8 Trillion are backed by a
little sliver of shareholder’s equity. Troubled
GM and Ford have total liabilities of $740 billion,
with equity stated at $45 billion and troubled
prospects. AIG has total liabilities of almost
$700 billion (SH Equity of $83bn). Combined,
these five companies’ exposure of almost $5.3
Trillion is in the neighborhood of 30 times
reported equity. In the best of times, there
was no room for error or chicanery. These may
be the worst. And one does not want to forget
MBIA. This troubled risk guarantor has written
insurance – “Net Debt Service Outstanding” –
to the tune of $890 billion, with shareholder’s
equity of $6.6 billion. To witness such a massive
and pervasive Credit system problem at this
pinnacle stage of system excess and asset inflation
portends a devastating down cycle.
- Real estate is high, and in some parts of
the country, particularly on the East and West
coasts, is in a bubble. Dan Denning recently
reported, “to keep the party going the last
two years, banks have loaned money to people
who have no business buying a house. These subprime
borrowers have been the secret prop beneath
the housing boom. And it's easy to spot who
they are: They finance their purchase with an
adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM).
The interest
rate and the monthly payment are lower than those
on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. So a lot of
people can qualify for an ARM who wouldn't qualify
for the fixed rate. In 2001, only about one buyer
in 10 needed an ARM to qualify for a loan. Last
year, more than one mortgage out of three was
an ARM. In hot markets today, up to half of all
buyers use ARMs. Translation: Half of all buyers
in those 'hot markets' are buying houses they
can't afford – even at these low interest rates!
When interest rates spike up, their monthly payments
are going to soar. A 2% rise could hit them with
a 40% increase in their monthly payment. But wait.
It gets even worse. Their monthly payment will
jump like crazy at the very same time their house
goes down in value. Do you think they're going
to tough it out and still make those payments?
Don't count on it. Most of them won't be able
to. Look for a huge, huge wave of defaults. They'll
load up the furniture, give the lender the keys,
and drive away. Mr. Denning speculates that they'll
do it by the millions, bringing down the world's
biggest financial institutions and crashing the
stock market while they're at it.”
- In addition to ARMs, there are interest-only
loans, loans with little or no down-payment,
and 40 year loans. These too have made it easier
to buy real-estate, driving the prices up even
more, but also making it more difficult for
the loans to be repaid in the future, adding
to the risk of default.
- Americans have less equity and the banks own
a higher percentage of the housing stock than
ever before in history.
- Inflation, the increase in the money supply
beyond the real growth of the economy, has been
occurring since the Federal Reserve began in
1913, and seems to have picked up quite a bit
in the past couple of years. The actual rate
of inflation is probably quite a bit higher
than the government reports – maybe 6%. That
means that the value of our money, and the things
valued in dollars, is decreasing.
- Fiat currencies are prone to collapse. Because
there were currency failures before the American
Revolution, which caused pain and hardship,
the Founding Fathers learned from those mistakes,
and Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution
states: “no state shall ... make anything but
gold and silver coin a tender in payment of
debts.” During most of American history, gold
and silver, or paper money that was backed by
gold and silver, was our money. But more recently,
the United States and most other modern governments
have stopped backing their paper money with
gold and silver. In 1933 our government confiscated
our citizens’ gold bullion. In 1966 our silver
coins were eliminated, and in 1971 we went off
the gold standard altogether. The problem
with paper money which is not backed by silver
or gold is that governments that won’t live
within their means will simply print more paper
money, which dilutes the value of the money
already in circulation. More money available
to purchase the same amount of goods and services
causes inflation, which is detrimental to a
currency and an economy. Many paper monies have
become worthless over time.
- The US dollar has been falling, making the
price of imported goods more expensive, possibly
adding to inflation.
- Globalization brings advantages and disadvantages.
It does give us better prices on manufactured
goods, but it also is driving up prices for
commodities, and is lowering the price of labor,
since we are competing with cheaper labor from
around the world. The Daily Reckoning observes:
“The Far East has been the principal beneficiary
of globalization, the process that has brought
capital and technology to its enormous pool
of inexpensive and highly productive labor,
while allowing much of the resulting production
to flow to the consumption-hungry nations of
the rest of the world. This process is accelerating.
Multinationals protecting their competitiveness
and earnings are seeking to escape the high
costs, burdensome taxes and over-regulation
of the developed world by shifting their purchasing,
production and administrative processes to cheap
and efficient facilities in the developing economies,
mainly in Asia.” Good jobs are disappearing
in the United States. Hardly any new factories
are being built here.
- There could be dangerous leverage in the world’s
financial system, largely in the form of financial
derivatives (recently estimated by the Bank
of International Settlements at $234 Trillion
notional value).
- We have a Fractional Reserve Banking System,
which can result in financial instability. Banks
take your money, and lend it out to others,
but they are able to loan out more than they
take in. They only keep a small percentage in
reserve, so if there is a crisis, or people
lose confidence in the system, and everyone
wants their money back at the same time, it’s
not possible. When that happens the banks become
“bankrupt” – ruptured, so they can’t function.
- Big pension fund problems are brewing, and
benefits for millions may be cut back.
Energy
Winds Are Blowing
The price
of energy, especially from oil and natural gas,
may continue to accelerate. We may be approaching
“Peak Oil,” which is when more than half the world’s
oil has been consumed. We are currently using
far more oil than is being discovered. No huge
oil fields have been discovered for several decades.
At the same time, demand for oil is increasing.
China and India, which have a third of the world’s
population, are rapidly becoming industrialized,
and starting to use more oil per person. I wouldn’t
be surprised to see the price of gas at 5 dollars
a gallon.
Political/Military
Winds Are Blowing
There
are military/political tensions, especially with
Iran, North Korea, and China has her eyes set
on reacquiring Taiwan.
The
Winds of Terrorism
WMD, including
a nuclear explosion in an American city, remains
a possibility. If a nuke went off, it would have
immediate and profound consequences on the economy,
and on our whole way of life.
So, we
are loaded down with debt. We have a fiat currency.
We have fractional reserve banking system. We
have a government that has tried to manipulate
the economy, which can create more problems. We
have high prices in stocks, bonds and real estate.
We have military and political tensions. We have
the possibility of terrorism using Weapons of
Mass Destruction. We may be close to Peak Oil.
Throw in a pandemic, maybe Avian Bird Flu, or
some other flu, mutating and creating a world-wide
pandemic, killing tens of millions, and we have
the elements of The Perfect Storm.
What is
the solution? Draw near to Yeshua, who is in the
heart of the Father, and pray that He multiplies
your loaves and fish, and though the winds are
blowing against you, and it feels like you are
out on a lake late at night, He stops the winds
from blowing, gets into your little boat, and
says “take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
|
