February 29th: Mark 6:45-52: Jesus Gets Some Time Alone With God and Stops the Wind

We are a proud people as human beings. We think we have things under control. We think we are strong enough and powerful enough to handle everything on our own. We, of course, are not. God often has to smack us a round a bit so that begin to rely on him instead of on ourselves. If we look at this passage closely we will see that Jesus went away to be alone with God.
This is something that we all need to do but how often do we really get away, and get alone with God? Where we spend time in his word and prayer?
Oh, by the way, Jesus as awesome. He walks on water, and stops the wind in this passage, you and I cannot do that. So if Jesus needed to get along with God don't you think we need too?

February 28: Mark 6:30-44: Jesus Shows Compassion

In this passage, Jesus shows compassion in three different ways.

1. Jesus wants his disciples to get some rest. This shows that He cared for his disciples and understands that rest is important. You sometimes hear well-meaning Christians say, "The devil never rests, and neither should we." Well, thankfully we do not get our model from the devil but from God, who rested on the seventh day of creation. It is important that we find time to rest when we are serving God, and it glorifies God when we rest because we have to trust in Him.

2. Jesus had compassion on the crowds, so he taught them things. This is one of the highest forms of compassion someone can have. Jesus knew these people needed to turn from their sin and turn to Him, so He taught them about those things. If Jesus had just healed them and done other miracles without ever telling them the truth of the human condition (alienated from God because of sin) and the solution to the condition (which is found in Jesus Christ), then His compassion would have be ineffectual.

3. Jesus cared about the physical needs of the crowd around Him. He knew they were hungry so He found a way to feed them. Feeding them allowed Him to strengthen their faith by providing the food in miraculous way.

Jesus showed compassion in these three ways, and we need to make sure that we show compassion to others in these same ways.

(Note: Sorry about several days without a post.  As you all know, I had a baby and kind of forgot about this in the midst of all the craziness. If you would like to hear more about Cordelia Mae, go to my wife's blog at www.feathersinournest.com.)

February 23rd Mark 6:14-29: It Can Be Risky To Speak Truth

Sin, at times, needs to be confronted. If we know of someone living in sin then we need to lovingly tell them that they are living in sin. Well that happens to be what got John the Baptist killed. He called Herod out on his sin, and then the king arrested him. John was righting in calling the king out in his sin, but he paid the ultimate price for doing what's right. Strangely enough Herod was worried that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected. Herod was so impacted by the truth that John the Baptist had said that he lived in fear of his return even after he had killed him. People may at times respond to confrontation of sin in a harsh and negative manner, but their is always hope that they will respond in a different way than Herod, and that way is repentance.

February 22nd: Mark 6:7-13: Jesus Sends Out His Team

Splitting up, and going separate ways is often the best way to spread a message. Jesus paired off his disciples and sent them out teaching and healing and casting out demons. This does a couple of things. The first is that it allows his message to be spread more rapidly a group of people split up can cover more ground than a group of people who stay in one places. Second it prepares them for the work that they will be doing when Jesus is gone. Jesus is making these twelve men into people who can spread the message of the Gospel once Jesus is gone. This was his model, raise up men who can change the world when he is gone. These 12 men do in fact turn the world upside down after Jesus ascends into heaven. They also ended up using Jesus model and trained others to do the work they were doing, this is the best way to evangelise the world.

February 21st: Mark 6:1-6: It has to Be Hard To Be Rejected in Your Home Town

Every where Jesus went crowds followed. People listened to him and were in awe of him and what he said. Except for in his home town. In his home town people were more sceptical. In some ways that makes sense. He lived their his whole life and it had to be strange for them to see him doing this great miracles now. Also there may have been some jealousy. Well I grew up with Jesus why can’t I be the one travelling around preaching and healing. Because of their lack of faith he did not do many miracles. I think part of this issue is comfort. These people were comfortable with Jesus before he started his ministry, so that is how they still view him. We need to make sure that we do not get too comfortable with Jesus and his sayings and instead continue to let them impact our lives.

February 20th Mark 5:34-43: Jesus Is Greater Than The Bad News

Jesus has been delayed from reaching Jarius' daughter by healing the lady who was internally bleeding. At the beginning of this passage today, they get bad news. Jarius' daughter has died. This bad news makes Jarius upset, but Jesus tells him to have faith. Jesus knows even though Jarius daughter is dead, that he has the power over death.
Jesus arrives at the scene wear everyone is morning for this little girl. Jesus tells them that she is merely sleeping, and he raiser her from the dead.
The incredible power of Jesus overcomes death. Jesus is greater than any bad news, then any negative event. Let us cling to him as we go through bad things knowing that He can get us through them.

February 19th Mark 5:21-34: Jesus Heals a Woman

Jesus agrees to heal Jarius daughter and begins to follow him to his house, but on the way crowds press up against him. A woman who is ill touches just the garment of Jesus because she wants to be healed. Instantly she is healed. Her medical condition is fixed. Jesus knows that she has been healed and looks around for the person who has been healed. She is afraid and hiding but Jesus finds her. He simply tells her she has been healed because of her faith. Faith in Jesus healed this woman’s condition, because she acted on that faith and reached out and touched Jesus. May we have faith like that as well!

February 18th Mark 5:14-20: Jesus Gets Told To Go Away

So Jesus just cast a demon out of a man, but the people of this area do not care, they are only upset that when the demons left the man they went into the pigs and ran them off the cliff. The truth is that pigs were considered unclean by Jews and they should not of been keeping them any way. This is a trivial issue that they are being distracted by. Rather than being in awe that this formerly possessed man had been healed they are instead upset that they have had a loss of profit. The man who has been healed of the possession in the only man who respond correctly. He wants to follow Jesus, but instead Jesus tells him to tell others about him. The man listens, and does what Jesus said.
We have been healed of our sin, and we can respond like the formerly demon possessed man or the towns people. One did what Jesus said, the other ran him off.

February 17: Mark 5:1-13: Jesus Casts Out More Demons

The purpose of a demons possession of a human being is ultimately to destroy something that God has created, specifically to destroy something that bears the image of God. Remember demons were cast from heaven when they follow Satan, who thought he could be better than God, instead of listening to God. Demons purpose is to destroy the work of God, and to battle God and his angels, thankfully in the end they have no chance of victory. The man's demonic possession cause three results: 1. He was superhumanly strong, 2. He was isolated from other people and 3. He was causing self harm. Man was not created by God to live in isolation, so that is one way in which the demon was harming the man, who bore the image of God. But notice, that this demon has absolutely no power in the presence of Jesus. His name indicates that there were many demons, a legion was large division of soldiers in the Roman military. Interestingly enough the man who is possessed by a demon has no choice but to kneel before Jesus, and the demons are cast out of him by the power of Jesus. We have no reason to fear demons, for the we are indwelt by God, who has more power than demons could ever dream of having.

Mark 16th: Mark 4:35-41: The Sea Does What Jesus Says

I do not know about you, but when I was a kid I would often hold my hand up in an attempt to stop wind. This may of been shortly after I watched Star Wars and would often try to use my force powers. Anyway, it never worked. I could not stop the wind. It just kept on coming. It would blow as if I did not exist.
Guess what? Jesus had control of the wind and storms. They did what he said. So in this passage today, the disciples and Jesus are on a boat. A vicious storm that is apparently very frightening to these fishermen who were following Jesus. When Jesus awakened from his rest, he calmly tells the wind and waves to stop, and they do. His disciples were shocked and awed by his power. But he questions their faith. In our lives it is often similar, each time God does something for us that is great we respond in awe, but we each time something bad happens to us we go back to worrying. God is in control, he has the power, and he helps us, let us trust him.

February 15th: Mark 4:26-33: It Starts Small

Here Jesus gives to pictures to help use understand the growth of His kingdom. Both use the illustration of growing plants. There are a couple main points that I want to point out from these two parables:
1. In the First Parable the Farmer plants the seed, and water the ground but does not actively make the plant grow. This is true of Gods Kingdom, God is the one who makes it grow, it does not take human action.
2. In the second parable we see that the kingdom starts small. This is true, God's kingdom started with a handful of individuals who caught on fire for God. Then it grew. Gods can use small groups for his glory and for the expansion of his kingdom. We just need to be willing.

February 14th Mark 4:21-25: Don't Hide It

Jesus tells another story, another one that is easy to figure out. It is pointless to turn on a lamp and then cover it up with a box. It would not cast any light, and you would not be able to see anything by it. The same is true with the sayings and teachings of Jesus. Jesus is saying things that need to be repeated and live out, not things that should be hidden under a box. If we have faith in God do not hide it. Put it on display, show it off. Live it out, and speak truth about it. It is a waste of the light to hide it, and it's a waste of God's light to hide your faith.

February 13th Mark 4:1-20: Jesus Tells A Story with a Meaning

Jesus like to explain spiritual realities with common place stories. Since he was in a society that had lots of sheep, and farms he used the type of stories that his hearers would understand. It is similar to a preacher today using an illustration that his audience understands. Sometimes we have trouble understanding Jesus’ illustrations because we live in a different time period, but this one is not too hard to understand, especially since he takes time to explain it to his disciples.
It is important to realize that all of the different types of people mentioned all heard the same word. They all heard the truth of the Gospel and they all responded in different ways. Which soil condition describes your heart? You should pray and ask God to make sure that you are the soft, good soil!

February 12th Mark 3:31-35: Jesus’ True Family

Sometimes we think about how cool it would of been to live during Biblical times. To be alive and see Jesus do his miracles. Maybe we think it would be cool to be one of Jesus’ half-brothers or some other nearby spectator of his life and miracles. The truth is we are just as close to Jesus as they were, since Jesus is not bound by anything, since he is God. Notice what this passage is saying. Those who do the will of God are the siblings of Jesus. We are his family if we listen to him and obey him. This is pretty cool. We have seen the power of this man. We have seen his authority, who wouldn’t want to be considered his brother?

February 11th Mark 3:22-30: Accused of Being Demonic

Jesus has stepped on some toes because he has made people feel uncomfortable in their self-righteousness. The truth often has that effect on people, and no one has ever spoken the truth like Jesus. He has made a lot of enemies and as we saw yesterday, even his family thinks he is crazy.
In today’s passage Jesus is accused of being possessed by Satan. The Scribes were saying that is how he cast out demons, because he himself is possessed by one. Jesus turns this around on the people, saying that that does not make any sense, why would Satan want to cast out demons? He goes on to give a story about how if you want to rob a house you should tie up the man who lives in it first. The point is that Jesus is casting out Demons because he has power over Satan, in a sense he has tied him up.
Jesus then says something cryptic about an unforgivable sin. We have to understand this in context. This unforgivable sin is the sin of continuing the claim that Jesus’ actions were caused by demonic possession. If you were living at the time of Jesus and continued to claim that his miracles were caused by demon possession then you are blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

February 10th Mark 3:13-21: Appointed Apostles, Called Crazy

Jesus is gaining followers. There are those people who came to him because they wanted to be healed, and did not care for much else. Jesus still had compassion on those people. But these twelve men that he took up on the mountain were different. Yes they had their problems as we all we know, and one of them was even a traitor, but they were special. They were called by Jesus and given very special abilities and authority. They were to go out and preach and they also had the power to cast-out demons. Remember these 12 people, they play pivotal roles in this book, and many of them are also mentioned in the book of Acts. Almost all of them were killed because they believed in Jesus. (and one of them has an awesome name!)
The second thing that happens after this is Jesus’ family accuses him of being out of his mind. The God of the universe in human flesh is being accused of being insane because he is doing the work of his Father. Being persecuted by the outside for doing the right thing is expected, but being called crazy by your family is not. Jesus suffered, thankfully he suffered for us.

February 9th Mark 3:7-12: Jesus has Compassion

It makes perfect sense that Jesus would draw a crowd. He was doing crazy things. Like healing people, casting out demons and teaching people in ways they had never heard. This shows that the people had faith. They came to Jesus because they knew nothing else could help. They needed him so they went to him and they were helped by him. Because Jesus had compassion and love and mercy. He wanted to help these people.
The application of this is two fold. The first question is, do we have faith like these people Do we turn to Jesus when we need help? The second is do people come to us knowing we have compassion when they need help? We are supposed to emulate Jesus in everything that we do, so we should be known for our compassion and our willingness to help others.

February 8th Mark 3:1-6: Jesus Shakes Things Up

Jesus liked to shake things up a little. We already saw this when he ate with the tax collector and when he allowed his disciples to gather a little food on the Sabbath. He did this because people have a tendency to be self righteous and hypocritical. The Jewish leaders thought of themselves as righteous because they kept specific tenets, that they made up concerning specific laws though their heart was not in it. They did these things so that other people would see them as righteous rather than in true obedience. So here we have Jesus healing a person on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said this was wrong. Jesus asks a very pointed question in verse 4 “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” The point was that it is not wrong to help people on the Sabbath. Jesus was showing them that their self righteousness was of no value, they cared more about their man made law than they did about the fact that Jesus was going to heal this mans hand. Do we ever get caught up in things like this? Do we ever find ourselves trusting in our righteousness instead of Gods?

February 7th Mark 2:18-28: Jesus Questioned

Jesus answers a couple questions, both of them asked in a kind of legalistic why do you not do this attitude. The first is why did his disciples not fast. Fasting is when someone would not eat for the purpose of greater focus on prayer. Fasting is not bad, but in a lot of ways fasting had become bad over time. People would use it as a way to show how holy they were. They would openly declare that they were fasting and rub it in other peoples faces. Jesus gives a great answer to these questions explaining that while he is alive why would his followers fast? The second question is concerning the Sabbath. The Sabbath as to be God days of rest, but the Pharisees has turned the principle of rest into a series of very specific legalistic rules. They would say how far you could walk and what you exactly could or couldn’t do on the seventh day of the week. Jesus gives a historical example of David eating the food from the tabernacle and claims that the Sabbath was made for man. In other words doing what they were doing was not breaking the Sabbath, It also shows that Jesus is saying that he has authority over the law and the Sabbath.

February 6th Mark 2:13-17: Who Jesus Came For

Bad people are the ones who need Jesus. We might be like the people in this chapter who questioned why Jesus would have a meal with a tax collector. Tax collectors were Jewish individuals who were working for the Roman authorities. They would often skim quite a bit off of the top, essentially stealing from the people. You think people do not like IRS agents now well Jews absolutely hated tax collectors and though of them as evil. Yet Jesus called one of them to be his follower. Look at Jesus statement in verse 17, he says “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sinners.” The God of the universe came to earth as a human for the sinners. The catch is we have to admit that that is what we are to be saved by him.

February 5th Mark 2:1-12: Authorty to Forgive

We have all heard this story before. The paralyzed man is lowered through the roof by his friends to be healed by Jesus. These men had tremendous faith This is usually the main point of the story taught in Sunday School, since I know you have heard that I want to take it in a slightly different direction. The scribes and pharisees (the Jewish religious leaders who thought they were better than everyone else) were not happy with Jesus’ statement that the mans sins were forgiven. Jesus read their thoughts. You should be careful around Jesus. Jesus tells them in verse 10 why he did it this way “But so you may know that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” What the Pharisees were thinking is actually true, only God can forgive sins, thankfully God is right in front of them. Jesus has the authority over the natural over the supernatural and the authority to forgive sins.

February 4th Mark 1:23-45: Not All Talk

We all know a person who is all talk. He talks junk and smack like he is good at something, rubbing it in every ones face but in the end that person is not good at what they said they were good at. Jesus is not this way. Jesus spoke with authority and then backed it up with action. If he had of stopped at just speaking with authority their is no real reason for people to believe him. Notice in verse 25-26 he cast a demon out of a person, showing how big his authority really is. Reading through the rest of the chapter you realize that he healed many different illnesses, from fevers to skin disorders to more demon possessions. His healings drew people to him because they realized he has the power and authority over both the natural and the supernatural. Let us not forget that the God we serve has the power and authority over these things.

February 3rd Mark 1:16-22: Spoke With Authority

Jesus, being God, spoke with authority like no one has ever spoken before. At the time in Israel no one spoke with authority. In times past their had been men like Elijah and Isaiah who would says “This is what God says” but in the time of Jesus the teachers of the people (called Rabbis) would say “Bob said this about this but Steve said this.” They would not say anything with authority. Then Jesus comes along and says “Follow me” and teaches with authority why? Because he has the authority. So people listen up. He empowers fishermen to become teachers and preachers and in faith they follow him hoping to become fishers of men. When Jesus speaks he speaks with authority and we should listen up.

February 2nd Mark 1:9-14 Jesus Begins to Preach

Mark wastes no time. He tells very short versions of most of the stories about Jesus compared to the other authors who give more detail, but Mark is packed full of information and stories about Jesus. In these six above verses there are really 3 different stories that are told about Jesus.
The first is his baptism. Jesus is baptized by John the baptist and when this happens God speaks from heaven. God speaking from heaven reinforces Johns statement from last week that someone greater than him was coming. The son of God is greater than John.
The second is the temptation of Jesus. Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Mark does not give us the detail, though the other Gospel accounts do, but still mentions it. Jesus was tempted yet his did not sin, but he understands what it is like to be tempted.
The third is that he starts preaching. In verse 15 Jesus says “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news!” You know what Jesus is saying here? God has been making promises since the beginning of time that he would send someone to help you. He made it to Eve immediately after she sinned. He made it to Abraham, and to David and to the people of Israel as a whole. Someone would come and save them. Jesus is saying right here that it is Him. Believe on him. He calls us to do the same thing. To repent, turn from our sin and turn to him.

February 1 Mark 1:1-8: Know Your Place

This will be a little bit different than last month. Instead of reading a whole chapter only read the portion that I mention. I may quote some of it but not all of it in the devotional. Make sure that you are also praying along with reading God’s word.
At the beginning of the book of Mark we see that John that baptist is preaching and baptizing people. If you look at this passage he sounds a little crazy actually. Eating locust dipped in honey, bet that is delicious.
Any way if you read veres 7 John says “Someone more powerful that I will come after me, I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of sandals.” John was referring to Jesus. And John knew his place. He knew that Jesus was greater than him and that his job was to prepare people for Jesus. The question is do we know our place? Do we realize how much greater Jesus is than us and are we striving to make people ready for him?