Lesson 3292

 (Lesson 3292)(01-07-21) Mark 8:22-26

     And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.” 

    In my opinion, today’s quote is not AT ALL representative of the true power of Jesus Christ. I believe there were needless embellishments made to Mark’s account of the actual events of that day.

    Mark’s account of that day’s events leaves the impression that Jesus was unable to repair the blind man’s sight with His first try, making it necessary for Jesus to make a second attempt. To me, that notion is simply silly and beyond reason. It DOES NOT take two attempts for Jesus to get it right. 

    We are all certainly entitled to our own opinion, but I cannot accept Mark’s account of that miracle as being an accurate one. 

    John chapter nine relates a similar action, but DOES NOT imply that Jesus failed with His first attempt to heal the man. ~

Lesson 3291

 (Lesson 3291)(01-06-21) Mark 8:14-21

    “ Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?”

   Today’s quote relates that when Jesus told His apostles to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod”, they had no clue what He meant. 

    The reaction of the apostles precisely demonstrates how today’s “Christians” can so easily get thrown off course and attempt to encorprate all manner of heretical nonsense into the gospel of Jesus.

    Understanding the teachings of Jesus takes focus and constant study. That’s what we hope to accomplish with these lessons so that we all understand what Jesus intended.

    In this lesson, Jesus was warning his followers that Herod and the Pharisees would be trying to destroy everything that they might accomplish. Thank God they weren’t sucessful. ~

Lesson 3290

 (Lesson 3290)(01-05-21) Mark 8:10-13

    “And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha. And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.”

    Today’s lesson relates that, even after Jesus had worked many miracles of healing, the Jews still rejected Him and asked Jesus to show them a sign. Jesus said, “There shall no sign be given to this gereration”. 

Lesson 3289

 (Lesson 3289)(01-04-21) Mark 8:1-9

    “ In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.”

   Today’s quote relates the miracle of the, in this account, seven loaves and two fishes. Mark’s account of the miracle disagrees with the Matthew account of this same event, in that in the Matthew account there were only five loaves and the two fishes. 

    There are several such minor disagreements in the different narratives of the four gospels. The most inportant thing to take away from it is that the miracle actually happened, the minor details are not important to the overall lesson. ~

Lesson 3288

 (Lesson 3288)(01-03-21) Mark 7:31-37

    “ And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.”

    Today’s quote relates how Jesus opened the ears of a deaf man causing the news of His divine healing, along with other miracles that He did, to be spread all throughout the land.~

Lesson 3287

 (Lesson 3287)(01-02-21) Mark 7:24-30

    “ And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.”

    Today’s quote relates that, because of her obvious faith, Jesus removed a devil from the daughter of a Gentile (Greek) woman.

     He performed the miracle only after telling the woman that, being a Gentile, she should be last in line behind the Jews. 

    Remember, the ministry of both John the Baptist, Jesus and the twelve apostles, was to educate ONLY the Jews about the new law of rebirth by faith in Jesus Christ Himself. They were NOT to preach to the Gentiles: “These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not.” (Matthew 10:5)~

Lesson 3286

 (Lesson 3286)(01-01-21) Mark 7:1-23

    “Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

    The overall lesson that is to be taken from today’s quote, is that the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, just like the majority of today’s religious sects, chose to highlight and inforce the least and most insignificant of God’s laws so as to make themselves appear holy, while virtually ignoring the, more difficult, substantive laws such as demonstrating compassion and fair judgment.

    A perfect example of today’s hypocrisy is the insistance that every child of God be in the church house every time the doors swing instead of taking the good news of God’s amazing grace to the places where the lost can actually be found. Jesus took His message to those who needed to hear it. He did not insist that they come to meet Him in the socially accepted places or in the socially accepted condigion, dress, or manner. 

    Although it’s scripturally obvious that the children of God SHOULD DEFINITELY keep in touch with one another in order to encourage and learn from each other, there is only scriptural passage that gives ANY creedence to the erroneous notion that every child of God should meet together on a constant given schedule. That scripture is Hebrews 10, 23-25, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: NOT FORSAKING the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” 

    I AM NOT contending that Christian people should not assemble themselves together, I’m simply saying that assembly should NOT take precedence over ALL the other scriptural obligations that Jesus expected of those of us who believe in Him.”

    “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20 ~