Category Archives: Gospel of Mark

Five O’clock

LORD willing I will be reading Mark 7 today.
Will you?
What’s your Go-To, Most Often Read Translation? 

As my regular readers have likely deduced I write and the next day the post goes live. 
Today, however, I have been wordier than usual, meaning I have already posted twice today (actually that is 3 times if you count KWT’s Back Page Musings) and now I have nothing for tomorrow, actually meaning today. :) 
Unless this that I am keying right now turns into something worth taking live. 

It’s nearly Five O’clock, Monday afternoon here in LA. 
(for those that may not know that’s Lower Alabama :) )
The rays of the sun have dropped from view; the house is quiet. Lunch was late so dinner is at the not hungry place. 
Technology has been good to me today. Phone calls and/or Text chats with daughters and friends. An encouraging message from a Teacher I catch from time to time. Articles I’ve read that told me what I needed to know even if I didn’t want to know.
And that lunch I spoke of – was broccoli cheese soup. It tasted good but the texture was off. Next time I’ll do better.
Texture matters. 

There should be a message in that I suppose but this evening, there isn’t. 

So let me end this silliness and pray for us.

Father GOD, thank You. Thank You for the gift of humor, written or face to face. As Mark 7 is read today, I ask You to enlighten us; change us as You will. You know I am not privy to who comes to this page but You are and You know their troubles. You know their sorrows. You know their gifts and joys. You know what events, happenings, words, songs, and messages are coming their way today; so I pray that in all these things that they will lean hard on You and experience Your faithfulness. I ask You to supply all their needs according to CHRIST JESUS. As best I know how I speak encouragement, hope, peace, and vision over them. And, Father, especially those with broken hearts, I pray for healing and mending. 

Just Keep It Up!

Mark 5

A well familiar verse with Christians, right? 
I hope I can adequately show you in Mark 5 how well it is demonstrated. 
Mark 5 says of the woman:

27 
She had heard about Yeshua, so she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe; 
28 for she said, “If I touch even his clothes, I will be healed.”
29 Instantly the hemorrhaging stopped, and she felt in her body that she had been healed from the disease.  source

Do you see the progression? 

She HEARD about Yeshua and she BELIEVED what she heard. That’s FAITH.
But that was not enough for her — it should not be for us either.
She ACTED on what she heard; she acted on her faith. That’s TRUST. 
She got out of the house (which I have been told was forbidden for her to do – she was considered unclean).
She got out of the house anyway and went looking for JESUS because she heard He was nearby. 
When we hear JESUS nearby, we need to seek Him out immediately! 

Jarius was the same. Look with me.
22 There came to him a synagogue official, Ya’ir [Jarius] by name, who fell at his feet
23 and pleaded desperately with him, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please! Come and lay your hands on her, so that she will get well and live!”  source 
The man had heard, the man believed and because of his belief, he came looking for JESUS. 
And The LORD rewarded him!
If you go to Verse 35 you will see the word is brought to Jarius that his daughter is dead and he is ‘counseled’ to stop bothering JESUS with it — she’s dead. 
What does JESUS say to Jarius?
36 Ignoring what they had said, Yeshua told the synagogue official, “Don’t be afraid, just keep trusting.” source 

Just keep on TRUSTING!
And he did! 
If you read more you will find the unbelievers were not allowed to see JESUS raise the daughter from the dead. 
Their unbelief caused them to be shut out of the room.
I don’t want that ever! Do you? 

Father, there is a lot I have left unwritten; more parallels I see and could draw but I think I shall not for now. I am asking You, Holy Spirit, to bring Your Word alive for my Readers. Turn the LIGHT of understanding on brightly for them  –  it will mean so much more and give them so much more delight if You point out those parallels – those I see and those I have missed. Thank You for Your WORD – alive, nourishing, and beautiful to us! 

And, Father, I don’t know the requests, the cries, or the needs of my Readers here but You do and so I bring them before Your Throne of Grace and I ask You in the Merits of Your Son, our LORD JESUS to attend each and every one. Amen and amen.

He Lived Where?

Mark 2 

Born in Bethlehem   
Escaped to Egypt     
Raised in Nazareth
Lived in Capernaum

From just this information, are you able to identify the person?

Mark 2:1 After a while, Yeshua returned to K’far-Nachum [Capernaum]. The word spread that he was back, 
and so many people gathered around the house that there was no longer any room, not even in front of the door. While he was preaching the message to them, 
four men came to him carrying a paralyzed man.  source

The word spread He was back.
This is important to me. 

Needy people, sick people, honest-seeking people, curious people, and Pharisee People — they all heard He was back, and immediately they came.  Ponder that for a bit, let it simmer, and taste how delicious it is. 

The GODMAN. He was (and still is) the most loved and the most hated of people of all time. 

Matthew 4:12 When Yeshua heard that Yochanan [John] had been put in prison, he returned to the Galil [Galilee];
13 but he left Natzeret [Nazareth] and came to live in K’far-Nachum [Capernaum], a lake shore town near the boundary between Z’vulun [Zabulon] and Naftali [Nephthalim]source
[added]

So The LORD had a place in Capernaum. 
We could study The GODMAN endlessly and we would never come to an end of Him.

We have the GOD-given Right to LIVE RIGHT in this WRONG world. 

Scariest People on Earth

FOR A LARGER VIEWING SCREEN, CLICK THE TITLE OF THIS POST ABOVE

Yesterday we looked at Mark 1
Today it is Matthew 3.

Yes. Another view of the coming of JESUS to John to be baptized.
I won’t call it a Second Opinion.
It’s not even a First Opinion.
It’s an accounting – perhaps we could say like one written with a gel pen and one with a ballpoint – giving us a different slant, but the same story.
GOD’s Story. 

Today in Matthew 3 we again see John preaching. 
His message is bold and necessary; that message is we must turn FROM sin TO GOD.
It’s is the only way to be saved from sin, death, hell, and the grave. 

I am wondering if you have noticed what I have noticed in our society. 
That’s an expectation (or shall we say demand?) that we all, particularly Christians, must be NICE.
We must be soft-spoken, tactful, obliging, and by all means necessary we must NOT offend anyone either by word or action. 
Have y’all noticed that? 

Would you be willing to look with me at verse 7?

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them.
“You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?
source 

Would you be willing to read a little more with me?

Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 
Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 
10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.  source 

Is there anyone willing to find fault with John?
Anyone willing to say he was WRONG to preach as he preached? 

NOT ME. 

No Sir. I shall not accuse John of wrong preaching.
I would rather pray O LORD move on me that I will with no intimidation and no fear, teach and share daily in every place that YOU, LORD YESHUA, was crucified because we are sinners and YOUR BLOOD is enough to clean the vilest of us and YOUR RESURRECTION is proof that THE FATHER has received Your sacrificial death as payment for the sins of every person who will turn from their sins TO YOU and TRUST YOU for forgiveness and Life Eternal. 

I appreciate and admire the man named John. 
The man who wore camel’s hair clothing, tied with a leather belt; whose food was locust and honey. 
I neither want to dress like or eat like him but I desire his holy boldness, especially in the face of the scariest people on earth! 

Perhaps the Scariest People on Earth would vary from person to person — you, think?

For a little commentary on Brood of Snakes, click HERE.
I found it interesting and enlightening. I highly recommend you check it out. 

We have the GOD-given Right to LIVE RIGHT in this WRONG world.