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Showing posts from February, 2019

The Irony of Good Friday

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Jesus Before Pilate 1 5  Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law  and the whole Sanhedrin,  made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.  2  “Are you the king of the Jews?”  asked Pilate.  “You have said so,”  Jesus replied.  3  The chief priests accused him of many things.   4  So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”  5  But Jesus still made no reply,  and Pilate was amazed.  6  Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested.   7  A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.   8  The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.  9  “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”  asked Pilat...

Broken and Poured Out!

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Mark 14:3 While he was in Bethany,  reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.  4  Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?   5  It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.  6  “Leave her alone,”  said Jesus.  “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.   7  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.  But you will not always have me.   8  She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.   9  Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world,  what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” This stor...

When Is Jesus Going to Return?

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The Day and Hour Unknown 32  “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.   33  Be on guard! Be alert [ e ] !  You do not know when that time will come.   34  It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants  in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35  “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.   36  If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.   37  What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” The answer to the question of "When is Jesus Going to Return?" is that we don't know.  In fact Jesus says no one knows not even the angels or he himself, but only the Father.  There is always a lot interest in predicting when the end of the world wil...

Is God Judgmental?

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The Parable of the Tenants 12  Jesus then began to speak to them in parables:  “A man planted a vineyard.  He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.   2  At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.   3  But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.   4  Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.   5  He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.  6  “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  7  “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’   8  So they took him an...

The Lord Needs It!

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Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King 11  As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives,  Jesus sent two of his disciples,   2  saying to them,  “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.  Untie it and bring it here. 3  If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”  4  They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway.  As they untied it,   5  some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?”   6  They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.   7  When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.   8  Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.   9  Those wh...

What Does the Bible Teach About Divorce?

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Divorce Mark 10  Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan.  Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.   2  Some Pharisees  came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”  3  “What did Moses command you?”   he replied.  4  They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”  5  “It was because your hearts were hard  that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied.   6  “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’   7  ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,   8  and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.   9  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  10  When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesu...

How Much Faith Do I Need?

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Mark 9:17-29 "A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.   18  Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”  19  “You unbelieving generation,”  Jesus replied,  “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”  20  So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.  21  Jesus asked the boy’s father,  “How long has he been like this?”  “From childhood,” he answered.   22  “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”  23  “‘If you can’?”  said Jesus.  “Everything is possibl...

Should I Ask For A Sign?

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Mark 8 " The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.   12  He sighed deeply  and said,  “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.”   13  Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side. " After reading this passage you might ask why is Jesus reluctant to show the Pharisees a sign from heaven.  After all didn't Jesus do many miracles as "signs" that He was truly the Messiah.  Jesus didn't want the public to believe in the signs in themselves. Their true purpose was to show that Jesus was the Son of God.   So why then did Jesus rebuke the Pharisees for asking for a sign? 1. They demanded a sign.  They weren't truly looking for a sign They were trying to control him and get him to act at their bidding. Jesus saw their true motives. 2. Jesus knew they really wouldn't believe in him no matter what sign ...

How Do You Measure Your Heart?

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That Which Defiles - Mark 7 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said,  “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.   15  Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”   [16]    After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him  about this parable.   18  “Are you so dull?”  he asked.  “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19  For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.”  (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods  clean.)  20  He went on:  “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.   21  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,   22  adultery, greed,  malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ...