Tag Archives: Mark

He will grieve for you (Mark 3:4-5) July 15, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ezekiel 31-36

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 3:4-5
Jesus: Do our laws tell us to do good or evil on the Sabbath? To save life, or to snuff it out?
They remained silent.
Jesus was furious as He looked out over the crowd, and He was grieved by their hard hearts.
Jesus (to the man with the withered hand): So be it. Stretch out your hand.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I wonder how often God gets furious with our silence. As we’ve watched the violence around the world and in our own country the last several days and weeks, I can’t imagine the pain and anger He feels at just how evil His greatest creation has become. How could we stoop so low as to kill each other over the color of our skin or the way we talk or the place we live? How could we get to the point that life means so little that we would kill innocent people because some idiot killed another person? When did it become okay to take vengeance on the innocents because of the guilt of wrongdoers?

God must be furious with us, don’t you think? We were created to love each other and worship Him. He is a God of love and peace and joy. We, in our drive to fill our selfish desires, have turned this world into one of hate and war and sorrow. How can we do that in light of all God does for us?

The answer is found in that word selfish. From the very beginning, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to satisfy instead of God. Everything else stemmed from that first fall. We want what we want at any cost and the cost has been high. Just look around and you see the price we pay every day. Broken homes, racial divide, nations warring against each other over 10 miles of land, civil war, war in the name of God. Would He approve of any of this? No. He is a God of love and peace and joy. But in our selfishness we want our way, not His and so we continue to see others the way we want to see them, instead of the way He sees them.

What do our religions do? They stand silent on the sidelines while all this is going on. All of us do it. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, all of them. We stand aside and let the faithful destroy the infidels because we want our way, not God’s. You see, God never told us to go and destroy those that don’t agree with us. He told us to go and make disciples.

But you don’t make disciples by coercion. You can’t turn someone into a follower by putting a gun to their head and forcing them to recite a creed. That’s not how it works. God doesn’t coerce people to come to Him. He only accepts volunteers. He only adopts those that come to Him with contrite hearts and are ready to turn from their selfishness and accept His way as the direction for their life.

Jesus was furious at their silence.

And He was grieved at their hard hearts. Why grieved? Because until we stop trying to justify our selfishness as just human or the way we are or the natural order of things, we will never come to repentance. We close our eyes to the truth God lays out in front of us and stubbornly hang on to what we want. That’s what those in the temple did that day in front of Jesus.

The Pharisees wanted their way. They wanted Jesus to obey their rules, not His. They wanted the people around Him to concede to the law as they interpreted it, not the way this man who some said came from God said it should be interpreted. The people gathered there didn’t want to disrupt the way things had always been. They were comfortable in their rituals and rules. They wanted their way.

So you can just see in your mind’s eye as they straightened their back, stiffened their necks, lowered their eyelids and glared at Jesus. Would He dare to cross them? Jesus grieved because He knew they could not find forgiveness until they allowed their hearts to feel the pain of their sin and understand the selfishness that must be turned toward God if they were to find peace.

Jesus grieved at their lack of understanding. He grieved at their failure to see that they could be freed from the guilt and pain if they would just repent. But instead they stood silent. How many today just stand on the side silent. Trying to ride the fence with one foot in the world and one foot in the church. It doesn’t work. We are either on God’s side or not. And when we are on His side, we can not stand silent. We must do His work to make disciples.

The silent majority helped get us into the mess we’re in today. The silent Christian is an oxymoron. There really is no such thing. When you really find Christ, you can not keep silent. Just listen to the man with the withered hand, the leper, those who chose to follow Him. None were silent despite the persecution, ridicule, humiliation, and even death they faced. No, if you are on His side, you won’t be silent. If you are, Jesus will grieve for you.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Come to me (Mark 3:3) July 14, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 10

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 3:3
Jesus: Come to Me.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

As usual with eye witnesses, Mark gives us a slightly different account of the encounter in the temple with the man with the withered hand. The Pharisees want to see what He will do since it’s the Sabbath. He’s already scorched them with His answer about His disciples eating a handful of grain as they walked through the field on their way to the temple. But now here is this man with what is described as a withered hand. We don’t know what kind of disease, illness, deformity, or accident caused his hand to be withered, but we know he had little use of it and wanted relief from his malady.

We also know crowds already knew Jesus could heal sicknesses, injuries, deformities, and maladies no one else could heal. Jesus was a miracle worker and this man needed a miracle if his hand were to return to normal. But healing on the Sabbath. Talk about taboo. That would break all the rules. Doctors didn’t practice on the Sabbath. They just didn’t. So what would Jesus do? The stage was set. The Pharisees gaped from one side of the courtyard. The man with the withered hand looked pleadingly from the other side of the courtyard. Jesus stood between them. The crowd line both sides watching the standoff.

Jesus knows what the Pharisees are thinking. “Will He dare to break the law again and heal this man on the Sabbath? Let’s see if His compassion overtakes His sense of their Sabbath Law in the temple.”

Jesus says, “Come to me.”

I can see the man staring across the courtyard seeing the eyes of those Pharisees burning into him with raw hatred. He wouldn’t be taking more steps than allowed on this holy day. He was careful to measure his steps so he would have plenty left to cross the courtyard and even go to the pool of Siloam if Jesus asked him to. He planned this day well because he heard Jesus might be here today. His friends had seen Him coming to Jerusalem and so this man hoped beyond hope he would find Jesus here today.

He looked at the Pharisees again. Then he looked at Jesus and into His warm, compassionate eyes. He saw the love He had for all humankind in those eyes. He saw something in His countenance He just couldn’t resist. The Pharisees might ban him from the temple the rest of his days, but he would listen to this gentle man with the power of God resting on Him.

He heard the Jesus’ command ringing in his ears. Looked one more time at that band of Pharisees and compared their religion and lack of joy with the faith of this man who spoke like no other and the joy that radiate from Him. He stepped forward and followed Jesus’ command to come. He saw no other way to find the healing He knew this man could provide. The Pharisees wanted revenge. This man wanted healing and peace.

I expect half the crowd sided with the Pharisees that day. They needed their rules. They needed the regimentation the law gave them. They needed someone to intervene for them because they could not or did not want to live up to the law. So they needed the priests. But Jesus wanted them to have a personal relationship with God. He wanted them to talk to God as if He were their father. That’s what He did and He wanted them to do that too.

Jesus wanted them to look beyond the routine and see the possibilities when you let God take charge and do things out of the ordinary and do God-like things instead of just the things man can do. So part of the crowd stood on the side with the man wanting healing. They needed freedom. They needed healing. They needed peace. They needed real relationship with God instead of just their religion.

So what does that tell us today?

I think it says there will always be those, even within our organized religions that want to keep us trapped in rules and regulations. Even if there are good things that should be done that disrupt the ordinary, those will cry out against those good things because of the rules they live by. And they will consequently lose great blessings and the joy of following Jesus.

I think it says we will occasionally have opportunities to hear Jesus tell us to come to Him, but we will have to overcome the glare and ridicule of some tough opposition. The opposition might be fierce and even do everything in its power to destroy us, but if we will stand faithful and follow Jesus’ command, the reward will be well worth it in the end.

I think it says we have two choices, we can cower to the influence of those who want to rule our lives with the way things have always been whether right or wrong and find their favor, or we can follow God and find His favor. There are but two choices. Like the man with the withered hand, make the right one. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

We need the Sabbath (Mark 2:25-28) July 13, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 81-83

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:25-28
Jesus (turning toward the Pharisees): Do you remember the story about what King David and his followers did when they were hungry and had nothing to eat?
They said nothing, so He continued.
Jesus: David went into the house of God, when Abiathar was the high priest, and ate the bread that was consecrated to God. Now our laws say no one but the priests can eat that holy bread; but when David was hungry, he ate and also shared the bread with those who followed him.
The Sabbath was made for the needs of human beings, and not the other way around. So the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I wonder how many of our religious rules and regulations we get wrong. The Pharisees, the priests, the scribes, those in positions of authority within the constructs of the religious order of the day built their whole existence on upholding and enforcing their understanding of those rules. If people didn’t believe in those rules or live by them at least most of the time, then their livelihood disappeared.

The Mosaic law described how the priests and the tribe of Levi would gain its wealth. They would get a portion of most of the sacrifices the people made to God. That was their pay as the intermediaries for God. It was their wages for caring for the tabernacle and then the temple and the synagogues after the desporia. If those rules and regulations fell apart, how would the priests and scribes make a living? They might have to figure out some other kind of work to feed their families.

It wasn’t that the work of the priesthood was easy. They often started their day at two or three in the morning to begin preparing the fires for the altar, sharpening the knives, cleaning the utinsels used for the various rituals of the day. The traffic in and out of the temple every day was pretty significant. It was much more than the town hall or the city court house or even the nation’s supreme court. This place was the center of everything for the Jews. So things were busy and the priests and their families were responsible for keeping it running smoothly.

So we might understand a little about why the Pharisees came down so hard on Jesus and His disciples. They were breaking the rules. God said not to work on the Sabbath and they grabbed a handful of grain as they walked through the field because they were hungry. The Pharisees considered taking that handful of grain off the stalk harvesting so they were breaking the Sabbath.

But the Pharisees forgot why the Sabbath came about in the first place. God didn’t get tired and need rest after He brought everything into creation on those first six days. He set aside the seventh day for humankind to rest. God has infinite energy and power. He doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t rest. He doesn’t take a day off. But He knows that we need to stop from our labors and remember who brought all of this into being in the first place.

Part of our problem today is we somehow forgot about taking time off to remember God and His goodness to us. I don’t think it really matters what day of the week it is, we just need to stop and spend time remembering Him. And that hour and a half on Sunday morning doesn’t cut it if that’s all the time we give to Him. We need to stop, slow down, quit our busy-ness, set aside time to meditate on God and the blessings He gives us. We need to remember the Sabbath, not as a day on which we must follow a bunch of dos and don’ts, but as a time to worship and praise our Redeemer.

I wonder what would happen if we started remembering the Sabbath again? I’m not too sure we know how anymore. What if we spent one whoe day in worship and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ relaxing in the company of each other, hopefully safe from the evils of the world as we share in that one day together each week? What if we stopped doing all our household chores and our shopping and our sports and other activities we didn’t have time for during the other six days of the week and spent that whole day on things related to our salvation instead of on things related to ourselves? Would that make a difference in our spiritual lives? Would it change the dynamics of our families? Would it change our churches?

The Sabbath isn’t about making or breaking rules and regulations. Jesus made that clear when He spoke to the Pharisees that day. But have we gone too far by just forgetting it all together? Maybe it’s time we pull out that Exodus verse and see what it’s all about again. Maybe it’s time we remember God set aside a day for us to focus on Him instead of doing the things we usually do every day. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for the needs of human beings. It’s about time we start realizing just how much we need to use that day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

It’s just common sense (Mark 2:19-22) July 12, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Kings 6-10

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:19-22
Jesus: Guests at the wedding can’t fast when the bridegroom is with them. It would be wrong to do anything but feast. When the bridegroom is snatched away from them, then the time will come to fast and mourn.
These are new things I’m teaching, and they can’t be reconciled with old habits. Nobody would ever use a piece of new cloth to patch an old garment because when the patch shrinks, it pulls away and makes the tear even worse. And nobody puts new, unfermented wine into old wineskins because if he does, the wine will burst the skins; they would lose both the wineskins and the wine. No, the only appropriate thing is to put new wine into new wineskins.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Today we do some strange things to accommodate people’s diets, don’t we? I remember growing up, if someone invited you to dinner, you ate what was on the table and you at least pretended to like it no matter what it was or how it tasted. Consequently, as a preacher’s kid, my siblings and I sometimes ate some pretty bad food in our formative years, but learned to swallow it down, smile, and say thank you. Maybe that’s why I’m a bit overweight, now. I learned to like everything.

Now, we seem to accommodate everyone we invite to a party or a dinner. I can understand making sure we account for allergies that might send someone into an anaphylactic shock, but all the other stuff we do? This person doesn’t eat chicken, that one doesn’t eat meat, this one stopped eating anything with gluten, that one is on the Atkin’s diet and needs a special menu. And the crazy thing is that we sometimes go to great lengths to meet everyone’s needs at those parties or dinners.

I’m not saying it’s completely wrong to do so, but…

Maybe sometimes the best thing to do when we go to a feast is to feast. At least in Jesus day, those events didn’t happen every day and when they did, the host worked pretty hard to get everything ready for his guests. It wasn’t just a matter of going to the store and getting a bunch of pre-made appetizers and pre-cut meats and vegetables, or calling the caterer to cook up everything and get it on the table in time. In Jesus day, it meant killing and butchering the animals you were planning to eat. Harvesting and preparing the vegetables you planned to eat. Cooking for sometimes days ahead, then finishing the preparation for hours on the day of the feast. It was a difficult thing to do even with a small menu.

It’s not quite as hard today to throw a party with all the service industries that have sprung up to accommodate our needs, but I think it’s still pretty impolite to complain about the food, demand different menus, require accommodations for personal requests other than for life threatening allergies. But we are a pretty spoiled bunch of people today. Our selfishness gets the best of us because we don’t let Jesus help get rid of that selfish streak in us.

So being polite and enjoying yourself at someone’s party is the right thing to do. At least pretending the food is good and accepting it without complaint is the common sense action the Golden Rule teaches us. I think that’s part of what Jesus was telling the scribes that day.

Use some common sense. You don’t put new wine in old wineskins or they will burst. You don’t use unwashed cloth to patch a garment, it will tear. And you don’t mourn at a wedding because it’s a time for joy. Just because the scribes acting like Gloomy Gus in their synagogues as they read scripture doesn’t mean they were right. God didn’t create us to live in sorrow all the time. He created us to experience all the emotions within our framework and joy is the one He wants us to experience most. But that joy doesn’t come from happy situations, it comes from following the maker of all things.

While the maker of all things is with us, we should not be sorrowful. When we are in His presence, if our sins are forgiven, we can experience incredible, inexplicable joy. That’s what He wants for us and that’s what He gives us. It’s just common sense to follow Him. It’s just common sense to follow His advice about parties and patches and wineskins. It just common sense to ask for His forgiveness of our sins. It’s just common sense to enjoy the peace and freedom from guilt He brings when we follow His commands. It’s just common sense to listen to the Maker of the universe and do what He says to do.

That’s what Jesus is telling the scribes and us today. Just use a little common sense. When we do, the only answer we will find is to follow and obey Him for the rest of our lives.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Share the good news (Mark 2:17) July 11, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Leviticus 13-15

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:17
Jesus (to the scribes): People who have their health don’t need to see a doctor. Only those who are sick do. I’m not here to call those already in good standing with God; I’m here to call sinners to turn back to Him.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

You know what they call people who continually draw on the assets of the medical community without reason? Who take up a doctor’s time and energy when there is absolutely nothing wrong with them? Hypochonriacs. Of course, that in itself is a disease. It’s a mental illness that needs attention, but by a different kind of doctor with different skills and a different array of tools.

Our emergency rooms are also full of people without emergencies. It’s not uncommon to go to an ER in the United States and wait for hours before seeing a provider for minor illnesses. Maybe they don’t seem minor to you at the time, but sniffles, bumbs and bruises, even a low grade fever isn’t an emergency. But those folks fill the emergency rooms across the country taking up resources that should be reserved for true life or death emergencies. We got ourselves into this mess with the high cost of medical care, our insurance debacles, and a host of other factors that as a nation we did not control very well. So here we are.

The point is, though, that sick people go to see a doctor. Whether a primary care doctor for those routine illnesses, an emergency room for something severe and urgent, or a specialist for something else, we go to a doctor when we’re sick. And usually, if we’re not sick, we avoid those places. I don’t know anyone that enjoys sitting around in doctors’ offices or emergency rooms or hospitals just for the fun of it. They are not built for fun. I don’t have any hospital addresses on my vacation list. You probably don’t either. But guess what? I also don’t know any doctors that make house calls any more. If you don’t go to the place they practice, you won’t get the care you need. House calls are out of the question now days.

Jesus tells the scribes when they complain about the company He keeps that it’s time to make house calls again. He goes outside the temple and the synagogues and reaches out to the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the thieves, the beggars, the lepers, the outcasts of society. He doesn’t wait for the sick to come to Him, He goes out to the sick to shorten the distance the must go to reach Him.

So what does that tell us today? Too often we get comfortable sitting inside the four walls of our churches, temples, and synagogues waiting for someone to come in to hear the gospel. As we sit in the pew and sing praises, we wonder why the world is in such terrible shape. But we refuse to take a step outside the door to share the message to those who really need to hear the good news that Jesus will forgive them of their sins and live in them to help them live the life for which He created them.

We don’t want to go where the sick are, but expect them to come to us. In medical practice, we have come to believe we need all the equipment and lab tests and support personnel in order to treat patients adequately, so we no longer make house calls. I’m afraid we’ve adopted that same philosophy with our outreach to others spiritually. We have somehow come to believe that without the trappings of the sanctuary, the altars, the pastor, the sermon, worship service, we cannot lead someone to the Savior.

Of course neither is really true. Good doctors generally have a good idea what’s wrong with a patient before all the tests and x-rays and labs are done. Most have honed their skills and use those instruments to confirm what they already suspect from their diagnosis. And good Christians don’t need the trappings of the sanctuary or the grounds of the church to lead someone to Christ. They know the Savior. They know how they came to Him in humility and repentance. And with just that much understanding, we can help someone else find Him. It’s not that hard.

So how do we get our brothers and sisters to start doing what Jesus asked us to do and share the message with those outside the four walls of our place of worship? There’s a really easy way to start. The best way to get people to do something you want them to do is to be an example. So if I start sharing the gospel to those that need to hear it, my co-workers, my neighbors, the cashier at the grocery store, taxi drivers, just anyone I happen to meet. If I start sharing the gospel, and my brothers and sisters see me sharing the gospel and see the fruit of my labor by the new Christians I invite to join me in fellowship in small group studies, maybe they will follow my example.

Actions always speak louder that words. So why don’t you be an example today and share the good news of salvation with someone who needs it?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Should we vote at all? (Mark 2:14) July 10, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Colossians 1-2

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:14
Jesus (calling out to him): Follow Me.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We heard these words in Matthew, and most of the time, I won’t repeat the same words we’ve talked about in another gospel, but every once in a while I will. This is one of those times because I think these words are so important to us, especially at this particular time in our history.

As I write these words, the past week has been filled with suicide bombings, mass shootings, parents killing their kids, both accidentally and intentionally, one of the largest drug busts recorded happened, the Britains voted themselves out of the European Union, but protests and riots might force Parliament to reverse the decision of the people. The world has gone absolutely crazy.

In the middle of all this turmoil, we stand in the middle of one of the ugliest, vilest, most juvinile presidential campaigns I’ve witnessed in my 62 years of life. The two candidates we are asked to follow both act like junior high schoolers with their smear campaigns and neither can came clean about themselves or their opponent. Both will cheat, lie, steal, twist the facts, degrade their opponent, do anything necessary to win the position of power as president. And both ask us to follow them into the future of our country.

I’m sorry, but neither have shown character worthy to be followed. No, this is not a political post, so don’t turn off the podcast yet. It’s to make a point. As Christians, we should be following the life of One person – Jesus. He is the One will the character to emulate. He is the One with the right agenda. He is the One with the platform that makes sense. He is the One that can lift our nation out of the terrible predicament in which we find ourselves. No one else can.

The question is will we follow Him? The answer is, some individuals will. Unfortunately, the nation will not. I was reminded, as I celebrated our 240th birthday as a nation, why those first shipload of passengers braved the treacherous journey across the ocean to settle this land 450 years ago and why we fought that war 200 years later to gain our independence from England. Those brave men and women wanted freedom to worship in the way they saw fit. They didn’t want to be bound by the King’s religious practices, so they fled persecution and came to this country. Two-hundred years later, our forefathers fought to maintain that freedom and start an experiment in democracy, a representative government in which the people determined their own fate by electing statesmen who would represent their opinions in the affairs of the nation.

Many no longer feel free given the burdensome regulations we face, the heavy taxation many carry, the stranglehold the government has on our people today in almost every area of life. Healthcare, education, transportation, housing, food, hiring and firing practices in business, monetary systems and banking, the government looks over our shoulder into almost everything. Not long ago, one mayor demanded to see every preacher’s sermon before delivery to see if it presented any negative connotations about homosexuals. If so, the sermon would be banned. Fortunately, the first amendment stopped the practice before it started, but for how long?

You see, we, the people, are electing individuals across our land who do not follow Jesus. Many say they do, because it’s still the right thing to say to draw votes and get elected in the United States. But I predict it won’t be long with the direction we’re headed that naming yourself as a Christian will no longer help a candidate, but will the death-nail in a candidate’s election coffin.

So how should we view elections? Who should we vote for in these important races? What should we do as Christians as the din of the rhetoric rises around us?

I’m not sure the answer is easy, but it is simple. We need to get on our knees and pray. Ask God for His guidance. Be good citizens and explore the character of the candidates long before going to the poll. Don’t listen to the media. Depending on whether you listen to CNN or Fox, you get a different slant that bends toward the candidate their executives want in office. News networks sell advertisements and entertainment. They are businesses, just like the grocery store down the street. If they can’t sell advertisements, they go out of business. If they can’t lure listeners with the best entertainment, juicy gossip, or twist of the news to what you want to hear, the way you want to hear it, you’ll turn to another station. So research candidates on your own. Search every source you can find to figure out what kind of character they have.

Pray a lot and vote for the person who follows Jesus. But most importantly, you follow Jesus. He tells us to. And when we follow Him, we can’t go wrong. This world is coming to an end. His book tells us it’s coming. Whoever sits in the office next, God allows it to happen. When he or she is God-fearing or God-serving or not, doesn’t matter. It’s still God who allows that person to serve for His purposes. Perhaps our next president will be part of the events that usher in the end of the world. It’s pretty exciting to think we’re voting for that person, isn’t it? So who do you think that might be? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Is it blasphemy? (Mark 2:5-11) July 9, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Luke 19-20

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 2:5-11
5Jesus recognized the faith of these men.
Jesus (to the paralyzed man): Son, your sins are forgiven.
Some scribes were sitting in the crowd, and they didn’t like what they were hearing.
Scribes (reasoning to themselves): What does this Jesus think He is doing? This kind of talk is blasphemy, an offense against the Most High! Only God can forgive sins.
At once Jesus realized what they were thinking. He turned to them.
Jesus: Why do My words trouble you so? Think about this: is it easier to tell this paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to tell him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk”? Still, I want to show you that the Son of Man has been given the authority on earth to forgive sins. (to the paralytic) Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

The scribes were the authorities on scripture. They not only preserved them by coping them from one scroll to another, but they also spent years learning them. They learned what their forefathers thought about their interpretation and carried those interpretations from generation to generation. The scribes did the research on topics when the priests wanted to know something. They could find whatever subjects someone was looking for, which was a minor miracle in Jesus day. Remember, chapters and verses didn’t appear in scriptures until the Geneva Bible translation in 1599. So these guys were the PhDs of biblical knowledge.

Then Jesus comes on the scene. He’s pulling out information that confounds the scribes. They have to search deeper and find passages He quotes that they haven’t used because they’re not very familiar to them. His teaching doesn’t fit the normal pattern and they have to brush off their books and find what He’s talking about. But it’s there. He’s using scripture, but He’s using it in ways they’ve never heard before.

Now He’s talking to this paralytic who wants help with His disease and instead of healing him, this Man says his sins are forgiven. “Who do you think you are? What do you think you’re doing? No one can forgive sins but God and there’s a ritual you have to go through before that can happen. He has to make an offering in the temple. Payment must be made to the priest so a sacrifice can be made. It’s God’s way to ensure the priests make a living, after all. Why would He think He can side-step the temple and take away the priests’ livelihood? This is blasphemy!”

Now, maybe there’s the rest of the story. But maybe not. These scribes couldn’t see how God could come to earth in the likeness of sinful man. They couldn’t believe that God would wrap Himself in human flesh and live among us. So Jesus could not be the Son of God and so couldn’t forgive sins.

But the words are easy to say. Jesus knew that. The scribes knew that. Everyone in the room knew that. Even the paralytic knew that even though he immediately felt the guilt from his past lift from his heart as the words left Jesus’ lips. But to show Jesus had power over the hearts of men, He show those present He also had power over the physical bodies of men. He told the paralytic to get up, roll up the mat he was lying on and walk out the door. Then Jesus reached out His hand and help the man stand to his feet. I expect Jesus only watched as the man rolled up his mat and danced around the room on his way to the door, shouting praise and thanksgiving to the Lord of lords.

What do we need to learn from this scene?

Some have a hard time believing Jesus can forgive. They recognize Jesus as a good man, even a prophet connected to God and able to use that connection to do good things, even miraculous things for people. But God? Some have a hard time with that and so go through life like the scribes questioning His ability to rid them of the guilt that weighs them down. Some just can’t see past their own intellectual understanding of the universe, as finite as it is, to see that there are so many things that can only be explained by putting faith in God, the creator of all things. Some just can’t believe the Bible is not just a collection of stories, but the record of God’s love for humankind and His plan for our redemption.

Is the Bible accurate? Yes. Every time someone tries to prove something doesn’t fit historic facts, archeologists seem to uncover evidence that the Bible, not the historic facts are true. Is it scientific? No. It’s not meant to be. It’s the story of what God does for us and why, not how. Our finite minds can never wrap around the infinite wisdom of God. Just one simple thought to consider to boggle our finite mind: Scientists tell us everything is made of atoms. And atoms are mostly empty space. So much so that scientist tell us that if all the empty space in the universe could be removed and the solid mass of the universe condensed into a single object, some say it would take up the space of a house and some say as small as a basketball. So why can’t we just walk through walls? I know the quantum physics answer, but it does make you wonder about God’s design in it all, doesn’t it? After all, where did those, electrons and protons come from to repel each other in the first place to form those atoms we’re talking about?

So when the Bible tells us proves to be true, then when it says Jesus is God in the flesh, that must be true, too. And we exercise just a little faith in that truth, scripture opens up to us in incredible ways. Just try it. You’ll find He really can forgive sins. He forgave mine and He can forgive yours, too. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Breaking the rules (Mark 1:41-44) July 8, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ezekiel 25-30

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 1:41-44
Jesus was powerfully moved. He reached out and actually touched the leper.
Jesus: I do want to. Be clean.
And at that very moment, the disease left him; the leper was cleansed and made whole once again. Jesus sent him away, but first He warned him strongly.
Jesus: Don’t tell anybody how this happened. Just go and show yourself to the priest so that he can certify you’re clean. Perform the ceremony prescribed by Moses as proof of your cleansing, and then you may return home.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Have you ever run into one of those guys? You desperately need something done. He knows how to do it and can do it well, but refuses to help. Maybe he wants more credit than you want to give him. Maybe he wants you to beg and plead some more. Maybe he wants to sabotage the project. It’s that feeling from him, “I can, but I just don’t want to.” Infuriating, isn’t it? I really don’t like to come across those kinds of folks.

I understand if they don’t have the time because of busy schedules. I understand if there are trade secrets involved. I understand if they are in the middle of something and to take care of my need would disrupt their activities significantly. I understand those issues. But when the answer is, “I can, but I just don’t want to.” Those, I just don’t like. I’m sure you don’t either.

That’s what I like about this story. The leper came to Jesus. He broke all the rules to do so. In Jesus day, lepers lived outside of the towns and villages in the wilderness, banned from contact with the communities. They were contagious and no one could come near them. In fact, if the leper saw anyone, the law required him to yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” to ward off the unsuspecting traveler and avoid any contamination.

But this man pushes through the crowd surrounding Jesus. See, once His ministry began, He never traveled alone. Someone was always with Him on those roads. In fact, there were always crowds around Him looking to see what would happen next. Dozens of people crowded the dusty road as this leper came pushing through crowd and walked right up to Jesus.

“If you want to, you can heal me of my disease. Help me, please.”

I like Jesus’ answer. “I do want to.”

But Jesus didn’t just say the words. He reached out and touched the leper. He did something no one else would do. Jesus felt such compassion for this lonely, forsaken man that He broke all the rules, too. I can picture Jesus reaching out putting His hands on the man’s shoulders gently lifting him to his feet. I see Him looking into the leper’s eyes and speaking those words, “I do want to,” then embracing him in His strong arms. Then Jesus says, “Be clean.” and continues His embrace as He whispers into His ear, “Don’t tell anyone how this happened. Just go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifice Moses required. Then go home. Everyone wants to see you again.”

The man broke all the rules to get to Jesus. Jesus broke all the rules in sharing and showing compassion to him. But then, if the man is clean in the end, did Jesus and the man break any rules? The man was clean, not diseased in the end. Whose to say either did a bad thing? Who can condemn either one if the man went home to his family healed of the disease?

Do we get so tangled up in our taboos that we forget the people inside them? I sometimes think that’s what Jesus tries to tells us. The leper He healed that day had only other lepers as friends. Drug addicts end up with drug addicts and dealers as their only friends. The homeless end up with only the homeless as friends. The down-and-out end up with the down-and-out as their only friends. Maybe part of the less Jesus wants us to learn is that we need to break the rules every once in a while and break through with compassion to those who need someone else in their circle of friends.

Before we can be healed of any of those maladies above, we must want to be healed, just like the leper in the scene Mark gives us. But how many of the addicts, homeless, down-and-out finally come to realize they need help, only to find that when they get to the edge of the crowd, no one will reach out and touch them. No one on our side of the divide will dare to break the rules as Jesus did.

To find healing from the diseases the sin this world brings upon us, it takes two willing to break the rules. God in His holiness, willing to reach out to a sinful man and forgive him of the wrongs committed. And this sinful man recognizing the pitiful state I’m in and reaching out to a holy God in whose presence I am not worthy to stand.

When both of us break the rules, healing takes place. He makes me clean and invites me into His kingdom. What a marvelous God we serve. Have the two of you broken the rules yet?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

How to make friends (Mark 1:38) July 7, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 8-9

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 1:38
Jesus: It’s time we went somewhere else—the next village, maybe—so I can tell more people the good news about the kingdom of God. After all, that’s the reason I’m here.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Carole and I are living in our twenty-fourth home since we’ve been married. That’s a lot of moves in just under forty years. But I’ve discovered a few perks to moving that often compared to living in the house we’re in now for the last nine. When you move that often you don’t have to spring clean, you just move. When you move that often, you don’t stash away a lot of stuff you’ll never find again because you put every thing in boxes that you open on the other end of the move. Boxes are never labeled the way they should be, of course, so every box is opened to find the stuff you thought you had, right? When you move so often, it’s like Christmas because you find things you didn’t know you had when you open some of those boxes and see treasures you’d forgotten about in the business of life.

And when you move so often, you make friends in new places. And I think that’s the best part. But moving so often also means you leave friends behind and that’s never an easy thing to do. I think it’s this friends part that Jesus and His disciples faced as He told them it’s time to move on. They wanted to stay. Incredible things were happening right there. Lots of people were hearing the good news. People were learning about the kingdom and the message God had for them. People found healing for their bodies and for their souls when they came to Jesus. But I think Jesus began to see the problem that Carole and I have often seen in even great churches because of our many moves.

Especially now in our mobile societies, an interesting phenomenon takes place in our churches that’s hard to avoid, but we really must if we really carry out the mission God wants us to carry out. Carole and I have found that almost every church has walls. Not just physical walls that hold the roof up, but invisible walls that keep newcomers from joining in. No one really means for those walls to be there and most churches think they don’t have them. But they exist, nonetheless. Here’s why.

Because we don’t have real community churches anymore in which people walk to their church and meet each other across their fence every day during the week, for most parishioners, the only time they see each other is at church. So what happens? Before services, between services, after services friends catch up on the latest news. So what do the newcomers do? They slip in and out of the building because they don’t want to interupt ongoing conversations. They hear the laughter and see the smiles. Everyone knows it’s a friendly church except the newcomers because they’ve gone unnoticed except by the person who handed them a bulletin at the door.

We don’t mean to be unfriendly as churches. We don’t think we exclude people from our fellowship. But most churches actually do a very poor job of assimilating new people into their congregation. There are some giant churches in which people come and enjoy the music and the sermons and like to worship together, but even in those mega-churches, you’ll find hundreds of people who have worshiped there for months who no one knows and they don’t know anyone there. They’re still newcomers, really.

The only way Carole and I broke the code to force ourselves into churches quickly was to join the choir. Music is one of her gifts. I mostly tagged along as her driver and to make friends. But that’s how we made friends fast in the churches we attended as we moved from place to place. We, as newcomers, kind of boldly went where others might not. We never waited for someone to ask us, we asked to join. That made us strange birds, because no one volunteers at church as soon as they walk in the door, right? Well, we did and it’s how we made friends in every church we attended through our many moves.

Why did I tell you about our experiences? Because if you’ve attended a church for a while, I’m sure you have friends there you talk with before, between, and after services. Be careful not to exclude the newcomers. Look for them and invite them into your circle. Make them part of your congregation. You never know who you might see and what you might learn along the way if you’ll just stop and pay attention. You might even see me someday!

And if you’re a newcomer, understand the dynamics of a church. People don’t purposely exclude you or shun you. Expect to have to push your way into those groups. The best way to make friends in a new place is to volunteer in an activity that meets often. For us it was the choir. If you don’t sing, volunteer in a women or men’s group. Get into a vibrant Sunday School class and participate, but don’t just sit and do nothing in that class. Join whatever group or class or activity interests you that causes people to talk to you and you to them. That’s how friendships are built.

Jesus told His disciples it was time to move on. He had a message to spread, but maybe He wanted to make sure He disciples also learned to make new friends in strange places. It’s a thought!

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Don’t you love the power in His simple words? (Mark 1:25) July 6, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 78-80

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 1:25
Jesus (rebuking him): Be quiet, and come out of him now!

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus starts His ministry with a bang. He teaches and people listen. They are in awe of His understanding of the scriptures. They like what He says. He speaks with authority and the way He shares the Law and the Prophets with such intimate knowledge but as an uneducated carpenter from the village of Nazareth just blows them away. This just shouldn’t be happening. Nazareth was a dean of thieves and robbers. It was the bad side of the tracks for the bad side of the tracks. Nothing good came out of Nazareth and yet here is this Man with such a wonderful gift of teaching God’s message.

Then a man bursts through the crowd screaming out above the sound of His teaching, “I know who you are! You are the Son of the Holy God! What are you doing here? Have you come to destroy us?” It was the demons inside the man screaming out, evaluating the presence of this teacher. They knew exactly who the Man was. And they were afraid. They knew His power. They knew His holiness. They knew He could destroy them with just a single word.

But Jesus’ ministry was just beginning. He didn’t want people to believe because of the testimony of demons. He wanted people to believe in Him because of their faith. He didn’t want His demonstrations to sway them. He wanted them to exercise their faith to realize He was the Son of God. So Jesus stopped the demon from saying anything else.

“Be quiet. Come out of him now!” Jesus demanded silence from the demon that announced who He was. We probably can’t understand why other than what scripture tells us. The timing wasn’t right. He didn’t want to be found out and made king or priest or ruler because people found out too early who He really was. He didn’t come to hold any of those earthly positions. Jesus came to conquer sin. He knew the best way for Him to do that was to live a sinless life and die as the perfect sacrifice for our atonement.

So what can we learn from this exchange between Jesus and this demon He exorcised from this tormented man?

First, we find without a doubt that Jesus is God incarnate. He is the Son of the living God. The second person of the triune Godhead. We don’t understand how all that works, but we can trust that God’s words is true and Jesus, by declaration of the those who walked with Him and the demon’s who feared Him recognized He is God.

The second thing we learn from this exchange is the demons lived among the people of Judea. They inhabited some and did all sorts of dispicable things in and through them. Sometimes it was one demon and sometimes it was many that invaded the life of a single person as we discover in scripture. The Bible doesn’t tell us how demons came to possess this man or others in scripture, but we know they did so to a violent end in most instances. And often the individual had little control over their behavior when the demons decided to take control. No sane person without that influence would throw themselves into the fire, throw themselves on the ground injuring themselves, require chains outside the city because of their violent behavior. But all these describe the activities we read about in God’s word among the demon possessed.

The third thing we learn about this exchange is the demons feared the Son of God. They thought He came to destroy them when they saw Him among the crowd. They feared for their very existence when He approached. They assumed their time had come to an end and judgment day had dawned because Jesus appeared on the scene. They knew they could not defeat Him and bowed in cowardice in His presence.

Next, we learn Jesus had complete and total control over these demons. He told them to be quiet and they spoke no more. He told them to get out of the man and they left. He told the demons to leave immediately and no sooner had Jesus spoken the words than the demons fled. He showed complete and total mastery over the minions of Satan. They could not stand in His presence and power and all He did was speak the words. They could do nothing but obey Him.

Finally, I think we learn that Jesus wants to bring freedom to any of us who want freedom from the sin and evil that is resident within us. We may not be possessed by demons, but we all have sinned and harbor that dark place that needs His light shined upon it so the darkness is dispelled. He wants to do that for us if we will let Him. He is anxious to do the work and all it takes is the sound of His voice. Come out and leave him. For Jesus, it’s that simple. Where no one else can soothe the guilt and turmoil in our soul, Jesus can with just a few simple words. You are forgiven. Enter in. Faithful servant. Child of God. Simple words with great impact.

Don’t you love the power in His simple words?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.