Daily Bible Reading (Monday, Feb. 13th)

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Mark 3 (ESV)

A Man with a Withered Hand

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” 4 And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Twelve Apostles

13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

12 Comments

Love love verse 13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. He called and they came.

I am that man with the withered hand! I held out that hand and Jesus SAVED me!

It is an amazing thing to realize that I am in Christ's "family." On top of that I have a relationship with other believers who are my "brothers" and "sisters" and are actually closer to me than my physical brothers and sisters. I can't even imagine what the feeling must of been like for the believers in that room when Jesus called them His family. I am so thankful for the many changes Christ has made in my life!

Read it and it was good.

Blessed, grateful, humbled. Even the unclean spirits acknowledge Jesus is the Son of God. Praying for complete conviction of this truth and boldness to share it with others. Amen

I am continually amazed at how Jesus so easily destroys the logic of the Pharisees and Scribes. They think they are so clever with the way they question Jesus to trap Him. They try to make a fool out of Jesus which shows how truly foolish they are. Instead of being humbled by Jesus' responses to their questions, they harbor resentment and seek all the more to kill Jesus. They never learn because they are blinded by their own pride. I pray that no one in our church would let their pride blind them, but instead be humble, so they can see and hear.

Starting in verse seven, Jesus' compassion for the least privileged is evident. We continually read in Scripture verses that show us how immense God's love is, even for those who don't love him. Jesus said that love was the greatest commandment. I pray that I and our church will love Jesus with all our hearts and all our souls and all our might.

I was convicted by 3:5. God is so grieved and angered when we have hard hearts and contrive sin and lust for the world. Lord, forgive my wandering heart and forgive me for grieving you. Lead me to contentment and peace in you and away from the temptations of this world!

"I do believe; help my unbelief."”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭9:24‬ ‭NASB‬‬

So much here, as in other chapters. However, I was thinking of yesterday's sermon when pastor Blakey preached in the morning in John 15:18-27, "Reaching a hostile world". The first point was 'Expect to be hated by the world', and pastor discussed on how Jesus was rejected because they did not know God, they didn't believe because they were not of God and how they hated Him because of His words and works and of course pastor used scriptures to back this point across. And so reading here in Mark chapter 3 verses 20,21 and 31 to 35 has always astonished me. Being hated by the world is certainly going to be a given, Christ makes that clear, but being practically rejected by His own family calling Him a lunatic, Christ makes it clear as well. And gives a true documented answer. Pastors second point was 'Reach out in the power of the Spirit', so verse 29 is terrifying. All I can think of is the utterance,

Whenever the demons or unclean spirits are in the presence of Jesus, they fall before Him and proclaim His deity. Even in their rebellion, they have no choice but to bow and submit in His presence. A little glimpse of the future day when everyone and everything will bow before Him.

Isn't it amazing that the Pharisees had no doubt that Jesus could heal him, they just wondered if He would heal him. And then just to use it against Jesus. What a hard heart. I pray my heart is not hard today.

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