MarBlog

There is something striking about the Lord’s words to Joshua and the people of Israel in the opening chapter of the book of Joshua. Six times God references the fact that He is “giving” them the land. This declaration necessitates the active involvement of His hand in the process, and requires His tangible Presence each step of the way into the land of promise. As if to emphasize this point, God declares twice “I will be with you” and “the Lord your God is with you” (Josh 1:5, 9).

God’s enabling, engaging, encouraging, empowering Presence is no less a promise and no less a necessity today than it was 3,400 years ago! When Jesus’ birth was foretold in the book of Matthew, 1,400 years after Joshua lived, one of His names was to be “Immanuel” which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Then, near the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus said “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever . . . the Spirit of Truth . . . He abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). He later described this experience of His indwelling Spirit as being “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). The Holy Spirit, then, not only is God’s indwelling Presence, but His empowering Presence!

So why is it that most Christians spend 2% of their lives (3 hours a week on Sunday) trying to “get into” God’s Presence, and then spend the remaining 98% of their lives (the left over 165 hours of the week) without consciously pursuing or practicing the Presence of God? What kind of “New Math” is this? Instead of clothing ourselves with Power from on high, we pretentiously walk around (all the while uncovered and unprotected) like the “Emperor in his new clothes.” Is it any wonder that many of us feel we are living powerless, chaotic and insignificant lives? Almighty God has come to dwell with us. Our Creator and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, not only is with us but He is in us! And yet we live largely as if we are unaware of His Presence, or simply are not in need of Him at the moment.

“Lord Jesus, my spirit cries out for you, but my natural self finds distraction and busyness much too compelling. I am bent on making a way, rather than letting You be the Way. I am committed to my rights and to being right, rather than seeking the Truth in You. I am intent on making a life for myself, rather than finding my Life in You. Forgive me for being so foolish as to spend my days like You are not with me. I know you are with me; You will never leave me nor forsake me. ‘Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.’” (Ps. 86:11)

This week, as we follow the footsteps of Jesus from the jubilant cries of “Hosanna!” to the frenzied shouts of “Crucify Him!” we are struck by the resolve and intentionality with which He went to the cross. In Christ’s own words, no one took away His life, but He laid it down on His own initiative. “I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” (John 10:18). It was this two-fold purpose which compelled Jesus to keep moving forward into the perfect plan of His Father in heaven. One of the events during this most important week of destiny in the life of Christ was His anointing in the little town of Bethany just outside of Jerusalem.

The following commentary on the account of Jesus’ anointing in Bethany comes to us from our own Bob Harkins, a retired Pharmacist. He did some extensive research on the subject of Spikenard which Mary poured over the head of Jesus only days before His arrest and crucifixion (Mark 14:1-5). According to Bob’s calculations, over 7500(!) distillation boxes the size of our modern plant flats, each filled with several hundred flower petals from the Spikenard plant, were needed to produce only one pint of the Oil of Spikenard.

“From this calculation you can readily see that a pint of this oil was expensive indeed. Easily it cost a year’s wages just to buy one pint.

Also, this oil had to be transported by camels from India to Jerusalem. This is a long and arduous journey along the Fertile Crescent to the Holy Land. Many obstacles, such as kings demanding taxes and robbers ready to steal precious cargoes were encountered.

Now you can understand so much more of the lovely story of Mark 14. The word “Christ” means Anointed One and Mary chose this moment to anoint Jesus while He was still alive.

He loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus and enjoyed staying in Bethany on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives. Only the wealthy could afford essential oil perfumes.

You will remember, it says that the entire room was filled with the sweet fragrance. I did not tell you until now that this oil of Spikenard’s fragrance is a sweet lavender-violet smell.

Now you can use your imagination for the rest of this wonderful story. When Jesus was at the Last Supper our dear Savior had the fragrance of Spikenard still on Him. Also it is not hard to imagine that when Judas Iscariot kissed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, His nostrils must have filled with the smell of the anointing oil of Spikenard.

You can also imagine the Roman soldiers that beat Jesus, and when they nailed Him to the cross, they too had to smell that Spikenard.

But the greatest moment of all had to be the resurrection Easter morning. I believe that Jesus Christ, our Anointed One, smelled like the fragrance of the sweet smell of springtime violets.

What a wonderful joy we have to celebrate our great Savior Jesus Christ’s resurrection that Easter morning.”

Do you notice anything different? Today begins a special new expansion of the HILL POINT REFLECTIONS. For over a year, Richard Cobb used this publication to communicate on a weekly basis with the congregation regarding the various events, updates and encouragements relative to Hill Point Church . When I arrived in January, I immediately saw the value of this kind of regular communication and was delighted to continue in the same manner. Now we want to expand this concept even further to give others in leadership here an opportunity to share with you as well.

Each week, we will bring multiple items of interest your way which will help you to stay in touch with the pulse of life and ministry here at Hill Point. The opening segment, In Step, will continue to be my weekly “blog” where I will share with you things that I am hearing from the Lord during my personal times of study and reflection. It will typically include items I believe the Spirit of the Lord Jesus wants us to be considering regarding our spiritual direction collectively and individually. Thus the reason for the name, In Step, taken from Galatians 5:25 quoted above.

I am sure this format will continue to evolve and improve as we go along, and your ideas are always welcome. We are excited to see ongoing evidence of growth and development here on the North Shore , and believe that the Spirit of God is alive and well at Hill Point Church ! Let us all thank the Lord Jesus Christ for what He has done here, and will continue to do, as we remain in step with His Spirit.

“Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. (James 5:14-15)

The practice of calling for the Elders of the church to come and pray over one who is sick is sadly neglected and often misunderstood among many congregations today. The Elders of Hill Point want you to know that they are available to serve the Body here in this capacity, and that they believe this is a very significant aspect of their ministry as shepherds of God’s flock.

Based on the passage quoted above, James makes it clear that the one who is sick should call for the Elders. One reason for this requirement would be to demonstrate an attitude of faith on the part of the sick person, as well as their acceptance of the spiritual covering God has provided for them through the Elders’ leadership. There is a measure of spiritual authority that God invests in the hands of His shepherds, which becomes available to the sick person who willingly demonstrates faith and acceptance of this God-ordained covering by calling for the Elders.

Secondly, the Elders are to pray over the sick person and to anoint them with oil. Prayer involves presenting our requests to God, but also doing so according to His Word and His will. attentive to what the Spirit of God may be saying or directing in each individual case. fitting Word from the Lord over the sick person, and if there are larger spiritual issues connected with the physical needs, those may be addressed as well. The anointing with oil is a symbolic act of placing oil on the sick person (I normally place a small amount on their forehead) to represent the healing Presence and power of the Holy Spirit. This requires the Elders to be It can involve speaking a

Thirdly, all of this is to be done in the Name of the Lord. This is a reminder that all healing power flows solely from the Lord Jesus Christ, as a direct result of the punishment he took upon Himself on our behalf. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24; cf. Matthew 8:16-17 & Isaiah 53:5). This is not some sort of mysterious phenomenon inherent in the leadership of the church, but rather the authority of Jesus Christ flowing through the spiritual shepherds of His flock.

The Elders here at Hill Point want you to know they stand ready to respond in this Biblical role that God has established for them. Please feel free to contact one of us if this is a needed ministry in your life: John Ames, Bill Crouch, Matt Furno, Doug Guffy, Scott Hull, Dennis Rintelman, Tim Van Harpen (and Richard Cobb currently on Sabbatical).

Also, Bill Crouch and Virginia Riesch will be continuing with their idea for helping me to put your names with your faces. Once again, following the Sunday morning service, Virginia and company will be in the foyer taking your pictures, which will then be placed in an album/directory format along with your names so that we all can become better acquainted. Even if you’ve only been attending for a short while, please include yourself in this project – we all will benefit from it together.