Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

  Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men So far in chapter 8, Jesus has healed a leper, Peter's mother in law's fever, the Centurion's servant who was paralyzed, and today he heals two demon possessed men, who were spiritually sick.  28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.  For a Jewish person, dwelling near the tomb of a dead body was abhorrent.  Of course, where there is death, the devil and his demons are always near.  These two men were violent and had been completely overtaken by the demons.  In Luke and Mark's versions, we see the man chains on him which were broken, and he had many cuts indicating he had tried to commit suicide.   As we learn in John 10:1, " The thief comes to, steal, kill, and destroy. " 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture u s before the appointed t

Jesus Calms the Storm 23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. We can assume that after hearing about the cost of following Jesus, the disciples were ready to do that and continue to do so.  So now Jesus has another lesson to teach them.  "The village of Capernaum was right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus, like many Galileans, was familiar with boats and life near this fairly large lake." (Guzik) 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.  It was not unlikely for storms to come up quickly and violently on the Sea of Galilee.  And this storm was so furious the waves came up over the boat and started filling up the boat with water.   Apparently Jesus was taking a nap and sleeping soundly because the furious storm did not wake him up.  Mark adds this detail in 4:38 of his gospel, " Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion ." 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying

The Cost of Following Jesus As the news of Jesus began to spread, his popularity and fame began to grow exponentially. This would lead people to follow Jesus just because of the signs he was performing.  18 When Jesus saw the crowd  around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.  Unlike some teachers might have reacted, Jesus was not looking for a mass quantity of followers.  He was not at all concerned about his popularity ratings, and in fact avoided the crowds more and more as his mission unfolded.  Following him was much more costly than crossing a lake but it would weed out a few "lookie loos".  19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” When one of the teachers saw the attention Jesus was getting, he thought he might get into the action.  He was so excited, he told Jesus that he would follow him wherever he went.  He obviously had no real idea of what that would mean. He had no inkling of the role

Jesus Heals Many One of the primary ways Jesus showed God's kingdom at hand was healing people physically and spiritually.  In God's kingdom there is no sickness and Satan is defeated once and for all.  14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.  This verse confirms that Peter was married.  Since Peter was the head of the church and was considered the first pope, one could conclude the first pope was married. Though Peter's mother in law may not have been in a conditon as serious as the leper, Jesus became immediately aware of her need.   15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.  This healing story emphasizes Jesus' gentle touch.  Jesus said the word, and the leper was healed.  Today Jesus just touches the woman's hand, and her fever is gone.  Peter's mother in law responds to Jesus' healing by serving him.   What a great response to Jesus' love. Jesus said

  The Faith of the Centurion Jesus healed people in many ways.  Today he will heal someone even when he is not present with them.  This passage also shows us that both Gentiles and Jews will inherit the kingdom.  5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.  Capernaum was a place Jesus lived and dwelt. ( Matthew 4:13 )  A centurion was a Roman officer in charge of many men, usually about 60-80. The Roman military were seen as oppressors by the Jews, so it is most unusual this Roman soldier would not only approach Jesus, but also ask him for help.  6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” The centurion calls him "Lord" showing Jesus respect.  The fact that he is concerned about his servant is admirable and shows his compassion for others.  He was a good man.  7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” Jesus shows his openness to healing a Gentile and even offers to come to his house, which was unheard f

  Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy As Jesus ends his Sermon on the Mount, we move into his public ministry where he will start showing his power as the Son of God filled with Holy Spirit.  8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. After teaching on the Sermon on the Mount the people said, " What teaching and with authority ".  He piqued their curiosity, as they had never experienced a rabbi like Jesus. He taught about what the kingdom of heaven looks like and now he is going to show them what it looks like for it to come on the earth.  2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” As you may know, leprosy was not a disease you wanted to have in Jesus' day.  Lepers were considered cursed by God and unclean by the Jews.  When a person with leprosy entered a public setting, they had to cry out, "leper", so that no one would mistakenly touch them.  The fact that Jesus begins h

The Wise and Foolish Builders Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount by comparing two builders, a wise man and foolish one.  24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  Jesus has just finished quite a bit of teaching on what it means to be his follower.  He has covered many topics like: prayer, forgiveness, how to treat your enemies, worry and many others.  He closes by comparing the person who hears his words and put them into practice and the person who doesn't.    Notice it is not just the person who hears Jesus' words, but also puts them into practice that has built their house on the rock.  This point cannot be overstated.  Jesus did not offer some nice platitudes that we can pick and choose to follow based on how we feel about them.  He taught about a certain kind of lifestyle we would choose if we truly wished to be called His followers.   I think the biggest issue in the church today

  True and False Disciples Yesterday we talked about true and false teachers, and today Jesus teaches about true and false disciples.  A disciple is a follower of Jesus and increasingly learns how to live their lives as if Jesus were them.  It is not about performance but a deeper connection with Jesus and then living in the power of the Holy Spirit, who produces fruits in our lives.   21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Jesus states that it is not just those who proclaim with their lips that are his true disciples, but those whose lives match the will of the Father.   " This warning of Jesus applies to people who speak or say things to Jesus or about Jesus, but don’t really mean it. It isn’t that they believe Jesus is a devil; they simply say the words very superficially. Their mind is elsewhere, but they believe there is value in the bare words and fulfilling some kind

  True and False Prophets 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  Jesus gets at something very important, as we think about the subject of false prophets.  False prophets often come disguising themselves as true prophets.  In this case he uses the metaphor of wolves, who were a lot more dangerous in his day than ours.  This is why it is so imporant for you to be a student of God's Word. The only way you can detect a false prophet is to realize what a true prophet looks like.  A true prophet's words align with God's Word, and specifically about Jesus, who is the Word.  The bible teaches that if anyone does not recognize Jesus as the only Son of God is a false prophet.   We will see this throughout the first 100 years in the history of the church,  many came teaching and denied that Jesus truly God who had come in human from and really was raised from the dead.  16 By their fruit you will recognize them.

  The Narrow and Wide Gates These are some of the most challenging verses in the bible.  It is important for us to look at what it means and what it doesn't mean .  13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  Clearly Jesus is saying there is a right and wrong way, and we must be sure to choose the right way. By saying it is a " narrow way"  shows it is a more difficult way, and the wide gate and road is an easier way to go. This shows that all destinations are not good.  It dispels the notion we hear quite often, " All roads lead to God! "   If we are to accept this popular and secular notion, we have to completely disregard Jesus' words here.  Notice the words are not the words of a Old Testament prophet, or a New Testament apostle, but Jesus himself.  If Jesus is the Son of God, He is speaking the very words God.  14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that lead

  Ask, Seek, Knock 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Jesus now turns again  to the subject of "prayer".  The fact that he had already addressed it in chapter 6 shows the importance of prayer.  Remember Jesus assumed they would pray when he said, "This then is how you should pray."  Jesus gives further instruction using this threefold model of asking , seeking and knocking .  You will notice a progressive an in these three steps .  We also see different aspects of prayer and different types of rewards. Asking -  This is what we normally think of with prayer.  It is rather simple.  Ask and then receive.  Receiving is the reward asking.  The bible says, "we have not becasue we ask not!"  James 4:2 Seeking - A more intentional step of prayer is seeking.  We seek God's will. We

 Judging Others As we move to chapter 7, the last chapter in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches on the issue of "judging".  Remember the main context of this sermon is not only teaching about what God's kingdom looks like lived out on this earth, but it is also a polemic against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Scribes.  7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  Jesus has already addressed some more personal issues like praying and doing good things for others, and now he teaches on how we related to each other.  The first verse is a summary verse of all that he will be teaching on this subject.  A lot of "non-believers", or Christians who like to rationalize sinful behavior, will use this verse a lot.  The hope is for a universal acceptance of any lifestyle or behavior even it goes against the clear commandments of the bible. But the main concept within the concept is Jesus teaching that your judgment should begin with yourself before it is appl

 Do Not Worry 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Like many of you, I inherited the " worry gene ".  Worrying is caused by anticipating a negative outcome that could you cause you pain physicially, emotionally or otherwise.  The outcome may or may not be realistic, but the mind doesn't usually consider this fact.  Worrying and anxiety are very similar.  Jesus addresses worry today. Jesus starts by saying "therefore", which always points to something he said previously.  In this case the preceding passages talked about building eternal treasures that can't be stolen or waste way. Jesus concluded by saying, " Where your treasure there is your heart also" .   It's interesting that now Jesus goes back to us worrying about our most basic needs.  While yesterday Jesus talked about being obsessed with how

Treasures in Heaven 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  Jesus says, " Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth ".  Though we need a certain amount of money to provide for ourselves and family, Jesus' warns against the all consuming desire to build up a treasure here on earth.   Why? Because treasures on earth can vanish quickly.  A stock market crash.  Someone steals your money.  Or, they can also lead to an attitude of greed, where one never has enough.   20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Instead Jesus insructs the disciples to store up treasures in heaven.  Giving to the work of God's kingdom growing here on earth not only stores up riches in heaven, but also gives us the joy and contentment of using our res

Fasting Besides giving and praying, fasting was one of the other major spiritual disciplines for Jewish believers in Jesus' day.  Jesus had spoken to giving and praying, now he turns to fasting.  We know Jesus fasted 40 days in the wildnerness before he started his ministry. Moses fasted from food and water for 40 days in the wildnerness before receiving the Ten Commandments. The early church fasted and prayed before setting apart Saul and Barnabas for the work of the ministry.   Fasting was also practiced leading to times of repentance when people turned back to God, after a period of disobedience to Him.  "Even now," declares the Lord, "return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Joel 2:12 (NASB) The basic idea of fasting is to abstain from an earthly pleasure in order to focus more on your relationship with God.  Most often it is a fast from "food" as this is the basic necessity life. Importantly it is not as much abou

The Lord's Prayer  This is the prayer that pretty much every Christian knows and is said at worship services, funeral services and most other gatherings of believers.  It is even said at every A.A. or other 12 step meeting.  But today we are going to look a little deeper at the mean of each petition of the Lord's prayer.  9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Jesus isn't making a suggestion when he says, " This then is how you should pray! " For a Jewish person to call God "Father" was pretty radical, especially a rabbi.  But Jesus teaches us to pray to God as if he were our "heavenly" Father.  This makes us children of God.  When we pray "our Father" it reminds us that when we pray we are not just praying by ourselves, but we join Christians everywhere, both here on earth and also in heaven.   Though we pray to God as "Father", that doesn't mean God is like a "buddy&q

  Prayer 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. Jesus assumes, like with giving, that his disciples would pray. But as they prayed it would be important that they not pray like the hypocrites. Some commentators have suggested that "synagogues" here means a place of public assembly not necessarily the synagogue for worship. But either way the public prayer here noted is driven by wrong motives.  Whatever they were looking for in terms of public adoration, if they got it, was the sole source of their reward.  When you think of it, it is kind of an insult to God acting as if we are praying to him only to attract attention.  Definitely an example of using the Lord's name in vain.   6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is