BIBLE STUDY OUTLINES (2024) – REALITIES MINISTRIES

BIBLE STUDY OUTLINES 2024

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER | BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 8:1-38 | WEDNESDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2024

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER | BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 8:1-38 | WEDNESDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”” (Mark 8:33NIV)

BACKGROUND

We have come to the eighth chapter of Mark’s gospel. And first, in this chapter, he shows that miracles can be replicated. In other words, if God has done something before, He can do it again. Then Mark shows us that miracles and signs done in the name of God are not for a show; rather, they are done to accomplish the will and purpose of God among men. Finally, Mark shares with us in the chapter the circumstances that surrounded Jesus’ announcement of His death, burial and resurrection. And as we consider these things, may God’s purpose for inspiring the writer be fulfilled in our lives. Amen.

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS
Now, as we come into the eighth chapter of this gospel of Mark, as I pointed out in my introduction, the first thing the evangelist introduces us to is another miracle of food multiplication done by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the way he presents it:

“During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.” (Mark 8:1-10NIV)

What moved our Lord to perform this miracle of multiplication? Compassion! He had compassion on the people and was not willing to let them go away from Him hungry. Yes, He was the one ministering to them in the word of God and healing them. So, naturally, they should have been the ones blessing Him with their resources. They should have been the ones contributing offerings to aid His ministry. Try, then, to imagine how much money the Lord could have gathered from over four thousand people, if He had decided to pass offering bags or bowls around every one of the three days that He used in ministering to the people.

But the Lord was not into ministry for money. Yes, money will always be needed for ministry. But the way a minister goes about getting money for his ministry will show whether he is into ministry for money or to see the will of God done in the lives of those he has been sent to minister to. Our Lord was not looking at what the people could give to Him but what He could do for them. So, having ministered to them for three days in what we might call a camp-meeting, He showed the extent of His compassion for them by considering feeding them.

How, then, did He feed them? Again, it was through a miracle. As we see in Mark 6, He had fed five thousand men, not counting the children and the women, with just five loaves of bread and two fish. And this time, it was seven loaves of bread and some fish that He multiplied for four thousand men, not counting the women and the children, to eat. That was a miracle. But it was not something the people had not seen before, showing us that as long as we have faith in God, He can perform the same miracle for us again and again under the same circumstances.

What we are saying is that if God has done something for us or for someone else before, He can do the same thing or even something bigger again, under the same circumstances. And He will do it again, if we will trust Him to do it. So, let us learn to meditate on the good works of God. That way, we will be able to build our faith in Him to receive from Him again what others or we ourselves have received from Him in the past. This, of course, is why we are told that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb 13:8).

But then, we need to understand that the miracles and signs that God performs for us are not for a show. Rather, they are to accomplish His good purpose in our lives and in our world. So, He is not under any obligation to perform them to make anybody take Him seriously. (Cf. Mark 8:11-13)

Unbelievers often think that if God truly wants them to believe Him, He will do something – He will perform some signs or wonders right before their eyes to make them believe. And God sometimes performs miracles, signs or wonders for people to believe Him. In fact, Jesus once said this to those coming to Him: “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will not believe.” (Cf: John 4:48)

However, that people see signs and wonders and miracles does not mean that they will believe the Lord and turn to Him for salvation. They may just choose not to believe. They may choose to harden their hearts and not turn away from their sins. See, apart from the fact that miracles are done to establish God’s will here on earth among men, they are also done to lead people to believe what God is saying to them about their sins and how to be saved from them.

Unfortunately, while some truly believe that God can heal them and will heal them, if they will come to Him, they may not be interested at all in the healing and salvation of their souls, which is more important that the healing of their bodies or any other thing they may hope to receive from God. This is why Matthew tells us this:

“Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”” (Matt 11:20-24NIV)

Did you see that? Despite all the miracles performed by the Lord in all these places that He mentioned, they still did not repent of their sins. Instead, they continued in them. And the Lord said that if the miracles they witnessed had been witnessed by the people in Tyre and Sidon and even those in Sodom, they would have repented. So, we must not assume that people will change their ways just because they have experienced the power of God for their healing or deliverance. They may not just change their ways.

In like manner, we must not assume that people will believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, if they are shown some miracles. They may just not believe. That is because everything has to do with the heart with which they are seeking miracles or signs. Some seek miracles so that they will have an opportunity to discredit them and the name of the Lord. And the Lord owes such people no miracle. He owes them no miraculous sign because the rule of the Scripture is that anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seriously seek Him (Heb 11:6).

So, you are to come to the Lord believing, if you are going to receive from Him. If you will not do that, you may not just receive anything from Him. This, of course, is shown to us in this chapter by Mark. He shows us how certain Pharisees came to Jesus, demanding for a sign from Him that would make them believe. But He would not attend to them. Instead, He told them that no sign will be given to them other than the ones that had already been given. And if they would not take seriously the signs already given, they should expect none other from God. (Cf. Mark 8:11-13)

Having answered the Pharisees that had come to Him in this manner, the Lord left them and began to warn His disciples to be careful and watch out for their yeast. Unfortunately, they did not understand what He was saying. As Mark points out, they had forgotten to take bread along that day. They only had a loaf with them. So, when He told them to be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees, they thought it was because they did not bring bread along. (Cf. Mark 8:14-21)

But the Pharisees were not known to be running bakeries and rolling out loaves of bread for people to eat. How, then, could the Lord’s disciples have thought that He was referring to yeast that is used in baking bread, when He spoke to them of the yeast of the Pharisees? Well, they thought that way because their hearts were hardened.

Now these disciples were believing men. But as we saw in chapter 7 of this gospel, it is possible for believing people to get so awed by manifestations of God’s power that they may not want to ponder on His works again. That was the case with those disciples. The miracles they were daily seeing the Lord perform were getting too much for their minds to handle. So, they shut their minds against them and just kept on following blindly.

But while it is true that God wants us to be able to trust Him blindly, it is not true that He does not want us to use our head at all in considering His works, so that we may further build our faith with them. Jesus had, before the very eyes of these men, fed five thousand men and another four thousand men with just some loaves of bread and fish. That should have shown them that they could never go hungry around Him. So, when He spoke of the yeast of the Pharisees, they ought to have known that He was not talking about baking yeast but something else.

What, then, was he talking about? Mark does not tell us in this gospel. But Matthew tells us in his own gospel that the Lord was referring to the hypocritical teaching of these people. This is showing us that if we will not open our minds to consider the Lord’s words and works, we will continually be robbed of the understanding of the truth. Also, it is telling us how important it is to give ourselves to right teachings, teachings that are not corrupted or tainted with unbelief or human philosophies. Otherwise, we may just be totally led away from the way of righteousness. (Cf. Matthew 16:5-12)

Now Mark goes on to report to us another miracle Jesus performed. And he deliberately reports this to let us see how unbelief can hinder the free flow of God’s power into people’s lives to heal or deliver them. Look at the incident:

“They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village.”” (Mark 8:22-26NIV)

Where did Jesus perform this miracle? It was in Bethsaida. And as I pointed out before, Bethsaida was one of the places most of His miracles had been performed. Yet those miracles did not lead the people to repentance. Instead, they continued in their sins. What is that? Hardness of heart! It is like the case of Pharaoh of Moses’ time, who refused to humble himself before God despite all the miracles and signs that He witnessed. And people like that can only perish at some point.

Well, we see that Jesus would not heal the blind man that was brought to Him right in the place the man was brought to Him. Instead, He took him outside the village to minister to him. Yet, when He was done, the man was not seeing well – he only saw people looking like walking trees. So, Jesus had to minister to him again. And this time, he began to see clearly. Then he was sent home and told not to go into the village or let anyone there know what had happened to him.

Now this was the only recorded instance in the bible in which Jesus had to minister twice to someone before the person becomes completely whole. Why was this so? We are not told in clear terms by Mark. But from what we know in the Scriptures about Jesus’ ministry, people always received from Him according to their faith. So, it may be that the man’s faith was initially focussed on being able to see just a little. You know there are times that people, in their desperation to be free, may hope for just a little relief or some moment of relief. In other words, they are not looking for anything total or permanent, so that it does not seem like they are expecting too much. They just want some relief. And that may just be all that they will get from God.

That, of course, may have been the case with that man. He probably just wanted to see a little initially. But when Jesus asked this man if he saw anything at all, he immediately said that he was not seeing clearly enough. Why? He must have seen that that was his opportunity to be totally healed of his blindness. And he was. This is teaching us that we must never settle for anything less than total freedom, for the Lord is able to give it to us. Otherwise, we may have to live with partial liberty in some or all the areas of our lives for the rest of our lives.

Besides the impart of the man’s little faith on his healing, we also see that our Lord took him away from the village before He ministered to him. Why did He do that? Why did He separate him from the rest of the people? It must have been because of their unbelief. In Jarius’ house, as we see in Mark 5, Jesus also had to send all the unbelievers there out before He ministered to the man’s dead daughter. So, unbelief hinders the flow of God’s power. And if you don’t want the unbelief of the people around you to keep you from receiving or hinder the power of God through your ministry, you had better separate yourself from them or separate them from you.

In any case, right from this time on, Jesus began to inform His disciples of the culmination of His earthly ministry and how it would end in His betrayal, death and resurrection. Look at how Mark puts this and the reaction of His disciples to it:

“Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”” (Mark 8:27-33NIV)

Where did Jesus begin to make this announcement? It was in Caesarea Philippi. But before He began to make it, He first ascertained that His own disciples knew exactly who He was. Of course, there were all kinds of suggestions making the rounds about who He was among the people. But He did not want His disciples to function on the basis of what others were saying about Him but on the basis of a sure knowledge of who He really was, which, of course, is who He will always be.

Who, then, is the Lord? He is the Christ. Incidentally, among the disciples, only Peter was bold enough to say that. And once he said it, the Lord began to warn all of them not to publicly disclose this and to also prepare them for the end of His earthly ministry, which would result in His death, burial and resurrection. This, of course, displeased Peter, who immediately rebuked Him for speaking about death at all. For him, why would Jesus die? Of what good would His death be? How would His dying effect God’s plan of establishing His eternal kingdom here on earth? He just could not see how God could use death to accomplish His purpose.

So, he voiced out his displeasure and told Jesus not to talk like that anymore. But the Lord rebuked him before everybody and showed them that it was Satan that just spoke through him. So, Satan can speak through us, even though we are God’s people. And he will speak or act through us, if we will not allow the word of God to renew our minds about the ways of God. God’s ways are hardly in agreement with man’s ways. That is because He is God. He can use what looks too simple or what appears utterly useless to accomplish His will. Why? This is to show us that His wisdom is beyond what we can handle.

Now, as far as man’s salvation is concerned, death must happen. Our sins must be paid for in death. And Jesus was the only one qualified to pay. So, He had to die for our sins. Otherwise, we could not be saved at all. That’s God’s way. And anything that contradicts or rejects that is of the devil. But Peter and the other disciples could not see that. So, they did not want death for the Lord, their beloved Lord.

But death, the death for man’s salvation, was a cross that the Lord must carry. Otherwise, as I said before, we could not be saved at all. So, He made it clear to His disciples that He was going to carry it, regardless of how doing so may look to them. That is because it was the way of victory. And in closing, He said these words to them as well:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”” (Mark 8:34-38NIV)

What point is the Lord making here? It is that everyone who comes to follow Him has a cross that he must carry. What will that cross be? Only God can tell. But it is surely not any kind of cross. It is not the cross of not being able to pay your house rent or school fees or that of not enjoying good governance or that of marrying a wrong person. Rather, it is a cross that is associated with choosing to follow Jesus Christ. And it may come in form of death, rejection or other kinds of suffering. But unless each of us is willing to bear his own cross and keep on following the Lord, we cannot be true disciples of the Lord.

What we are saying is that for the Lord to accomplish His good will in our lives and through our lives, things may not go as smoothly or as enjoyable as we may want them to be. Our life’s plans or dreams may be upset in the process. But as long as we set our hearts on following Him, regardless of what we are confronted with because of His name, He will see us through it and bring about our resurrection in glory.

CONCLUSION
In closing, though our Lord had a very glorious ministry here on earth, that ministry did not look like one that ended in glory. That was because it ended with a painful death on a cruel cross. Yet the way of the cross was actually the way of true glory for the Lord. So, if we too want to experience the fullness of the glory of the Lord in our lives and through our lives, we must carry whatever cross God is laying on us and keep following Him to the very end.

QUESTION
– What is the most important lesson for you in this study?

By Johnson O. Lawal

Copyright © 2024 Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

SERIES: BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TOPIC: THE FAITH OF MOSES AND HIS PARENTS | TEXT: HEBREWS 11:24-26 | WEDNESDAY 13TH NOVEMBER 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

SERIES: BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TOPIC: THE FAITH OF MOSES AND HIS PARENTS | TEXT: HEBREWS 11:24-26 | WEDNESDAY 13TH NOVEMBER 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (HEBREWS 11:6 NLTL)

BACKGROUND

In our last bible study in this series, we discussed the faith of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Isaac and Jacob demonstrated their faith in blessing their children at the final hour of their lives and also demonstrated their faith from start to finish. They believed in the Abrahamic blessings and by divine revelation transferred the blessings accordingly. Joseph as well believed in the Abrahamic blessings so much so that he confidently said that the People of Israel would leave Egypt for the Promised Land and also commanded them to carry his bones along with them when they left. This also shows that Joseph’s faith was from start to finish

MOSES PARENTS’ FAITH
Now, in this bible study, we are going to take a step further by looking into Moses’ Faith. To begin with, who was Moses to the people of Israel? The people of Israel considered Moses to be their greatest prophet, considering his ministry among them. First, God used him in leading them out of Egypt, the land of slavery. Then he was a mediator between them and God. And he was also the one who received the 10 commandments and other various laws from God for them. So, he was a man of faith.

But then, we can’t talk about Moses’ Faith without first talking about his parents’ faith. And what does the bible say about his parents’ faith? Look at it:

“It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.” (Hebrews 11:23NLT)

We can see here that it was his parents’ faith, Amram and Jochebed, that birthed the survival of Moses as an infant in Egypt. During the time of Moses’ birth, pharaoh had issued out a decree to the midwives to kill every Hebrew male child to control their growing population. Moses’ parents, being Levites, trusted God to protect the child. So they hid him for 3 month, even though the consequence was death.

Keeping a baby from being noticed for the first 3 months of his life would in fact take the intervention of God. Yet Moses’ parents demonstrated their faith in God to hide the child. The reason they just couldn’t give up the child to pharaoh to be killed was that they believed that he was an unusual child. So, they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command. That was a living faith. We must as well learn to demonstrate our faith in living right and standing for righteousness, even if it means going against certain people, traditions or authority that may injure our faith.

As we have the account in Genesis chapter 2, it came to a point that Moses’ mother, Jochebed, could no longer hide the child. So she devised a means to keep the baby afloat on water, while Moses’ sister watched what would become of the boy. (Cf. Exodus 2:3-4) And that same day, God stepped in again and caused that situation to work for the boy’s safety.

How? Well, About the same time, pharaoh’s daughter discovered the baby on the water, had compassion on him and engaged a woman who happened to be Moses’ mother to nurse the baby for her. Not only that, she also paid the mother wages for nursing her own baby. That could only be the hand of God. If we as well will trust God and exercise our faith in Him, He is able to cause all things to walk together for our good, even ugly situations.

MOSES’ FAITH
“It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” (Hebrews 11:24NLT)

Moses grew under the care of his mother who revealed his real identity to him. Jochebed must have told Moses that he was an Israelite and not an Egyptian. She must have raised him up in the ways and fear of God until he was of age, when his mother handed him over to pharaoh’s daughter and she adopted him as her own child. So, at some point, Moses started living in pharaoh’s palace and enjoying the pleasure of royalty.

But as we are further told, when Moses grew up, by faith, he refused to be called the son of pharaoh’s daughter. That means when people began to refer to him as a daughter of pharaoh, he just wouldn’t accept that but rather chose to identify with his people Israel, even though they were slaves in Egypt.

“He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:25NLT)

Moses’ could have chosen freedom and the enjoyment in pharaoh’s palace and turn blind eyes to his people’s suffering. But he just wouldn’t do that; rather, he chose to identify with them and share in their oppression. He could have chosen the pleasure of sin in pharaoh’s palace and indulge in all kinds of sexual morality, but he wouldn’t do that. We must as well learn from Moses to make the right choices in life. The choices we make today will determine where we will be tomorrow and will as well determine what God can use us for.

“He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.” (Hebrews 11:26NLT)

Why did Moses choose to share in his peoples’ suffering rather than enjoying in pharaoh’s palace? Firstly, it was because he thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt. Egypt had enough treasures at the time to entice Moses and make him forget his identify. But he wouldn’t allow that to happen to him. Instead, he chose to identify with his people. Secondly, he was looking ahead to his great reward and that motivated him to despise the pleasure of the palace.

CONCLUSION
Moses’ parents and Moses all demonstrated their faith in God, even in the face of dangerous circumstances. And God honoured their faith. God honoured the faith of Moses’ parents, when they hid him from pharaoh because God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. If we will demonstrate our faith in Him as well, irrespective of contrary circumstances, He will honour our faith and reward us beyond our wildest imaginations.

Moses as well demonstrated his faith in God by refusing to be called the son of pharaoh’s daughter and choosing to identity with his people, the Israelites, even though he had a choice to choose otherwise. We must learn from Moses and be careful of the choices we make in life. Just as Moses refused the pleasures of sin and the treasures in Pharaoh’s palace, we too must choose to refuse the pleasures of sin and the ungodly treasures of this world. And as we further see in the account, Moses had a revelation of the reward awaiting him and therefore chose to identify with his people and suffer for the sake of Christ than to own to treasure of sin. We should learn from him as well to allow our eternal reward to motivate us to make the right choices, even if that may lead to persecution.

By Emmanuel Olarinre

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 7:1-37 | WEDNESDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 7:1-37 | WEDNESDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”” (Mark 7:37NIV)

BACKGROUND

In our last study in Mark’s gospel, we saw that the ministry of Jesus encountered different forms of unbelief. For instance, He met with unbelief in His hometown, a kind that was produced by overfamiliarity. He also had to deal with another kind of unbelief in His own disciples, a kind that was produced by their unwillingness to consider and meditate on God’s works. Nevertheless, the Lord was not deterred at all. He did not allow anyone’s unbelief to keep Him from doing what God had anointed and sent Him to do. We too must not allow anything to deter us or to keep us from doing what God has chosen and separated us to do. Otherwise, our reward may just be stolen from us.

MAKING THE WORD INEFFECTIVE
Now, in the seventh chapter of this gospel, Mark continues to trace out for us the reactions of the religious leaders of the Jews towards Jesus and His ministry. And he does this to let us see that those people actually made it their business to monitor Jesus and His works. Why? Was it to encourage and help Him reach more and more people? No! Rather, it was to discredit and discourage Him.

Unfortunately for them, they were always challenging or criticising Him out of the abundance of their ignorance, hypocrisy and bitterness. So, they could not succeed in discrediting or discouraging Him. Instead, they always ended up revealing their folly and embarrassing themselves. And to illustrate this, Mark shares an incident with us in which they criticised the Lord’s disciples for not observing the traditions of their elders. What traditions? One of them was giving one’s hands a ceremonial washing before eating. And they did this whether their hands were dirty or not. (Cf. Mark 7:1-5)

Now is anything wrong with washing our hands before eating? No! Or is something wrong with cleanliness? No! However, we can make a religion of cleanliness. That is why we sometimes hear things like, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” And is that a correct statement to make? Is it really true that if someone is neat, the person is surely close to God? No, it is not true!

Yes, as I pointed out before, it is good to be neat. God Himself encourages that in the pages of the Scriptures. But being neat is not synonymous to being godly. One can be neat and not be godly, just as one can be godly and not be neat. But will not being neat keep a godly person from entering God’s eternal kingdom? No! That is because the benefits of neatness are only for this realm of life, while the benefits of godliness are not just for this realm but also eternal. (Cf. Luke 16:19-31; 1Tim 4:7-8)

But the religious leaders of Jesus’ day did not understand these things. Therefore, they major on things that are minor and, by so doing, they make minor things that are major. That was why they criticised the disciples of Jesus for eating with unwashed hands on the occasion that Mark is reporting in this chapter. And in response to their criticism, the Lord had to once again point out their folly. Look at what Mark says about that:

“He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’” After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”) He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” (Mark 7:6-23NIV)

How did Jesus respond to these people’s criticism? He responded by drawing their attention to the word of God. And this was always His method of responding to people’s questions, allegations or criticisms. He would lead them to see what God has said about the matter in question. And that is because God’s word is the final word on every matter.

Remember He once told the devil that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4; Luke 4:4). That means the word of God must be the basis for everything we do in life. Anything that does not have its roots in His word must be done by us; instead, it must be rejected. In like manner, any doctrine or tradition or practice of our churches that is not rooted in the word of God must be rejected by us. It is useless. It is unprofitable. It cannot accomplish the will of God in our lives.

Now, as we see in Jesus’ response to those Jewish leaders, the word of God has already described them. How? First, it describes as people who only worship God with their lips but whose hearts are far from Him. So, it is not everyone who calls himself a worshipper of God that is truly worshipping Him. The worship of God goes beyond what we say with words of mouth; it must come from our hearts. And it is those who worship God from the depths of their hearts that God is seeking, for they are the real and true worshippers (John 4:23-24). Am I, then, a real worshipper of God? Is my heart actually in my worship?

The second thing the Scripture Jesus quotes says about those religious leaders of the Jews is that live on the basis of men’s rules and not God’s principles. Why will anyone want to serve God on the basis of his own philosophies and principles instead of serving Him on the basis of what He says? Are we the ones to dictate to God how we will serve Him or is He the one to tell us how to serve Him?

Well, for the religious leaders of the Jews, they were the ones deciding for God how they would serve Him. So, they were continually setting aside what God says in order to establish their own rules and traditions. In other words, wherever the word of God was not in agreement with their own rules and traditions, they would set it aside. And Jesus gave an illustration of how they did that. According to Him, even though the word of God commands the people to honour their parents with their resources (not just with greetings), the religious leaders would not allow them to do so, if doing so would prevent them from sowing some material seeds into their lives. And by doing that, they were rendering the word of God ineffective in the lives of the people.

In like manner, there are many things we believe, teach and practice in our various Christian assemblies all around the world that render the word of God ineffective in our lives, in our homes and in our affairs. In other words, these things prevent the word of God from working in us and producing the results God desires in our lives and in our world. Unfortunately, we take them more seriously than what God is saying to us. And as long as that is the case, even though we claim to be worshipping God, our lives will not bring forth fruits that will show that we are truly worshipping Him.

Well, in closing His thoughts on the matter of giving one’s hands a ceremonial washing before eating, Jesus addressed the people with Him and made it clear to them that it is not what people eat that defiles them but the thoughts they entertain in their hearts. What people eat goes into their body and then comes out when it has finished its work of nourishing their bodies. But the evil thoughts they entertain in their hearts will not leave them until they have taken hold of them and driven them to act against the will of God. That is how people become corrupt and wicked.

The point being made, then, is that while God does not encourage us to be irresponsible in eating or drinking, it is not really what we eat that pollute our lives but what we think with our hearts. In fact, Mark is careful to show us in the text that Jesus said the things He said to show us that foods are clean for us to eat. However, all thoughts are not clean for us to entertain in our hearts. And if we fail to guard our hearts against evil thoughts and desires, they will take us captive and corrupt our lives. (Cf. Prov 4:23)

Moving away from that, Mark goes on to share two interesting accounts of the healing works of Jesus with us. And he shares them with us, first, to show us that Jesus kept on doing good everywhere He went, in spite of the severe opposition He was constantly faced. Second, Mark shares these healing incidents with us to show us the role of people’s faith in receiving from God.

See, even though God is Almighty and can do anything, He still needs us to take Him seriously in order for Him to move in our lives. Yes, there are times that He, out of His mercy, will do certain things for us without our asking or without any demonstration of willingness to receiving from Him on our part. But in most cases, if people don’t take Him seriously and come to Him with hearts that are willing and desperate to receive, they won’t receive anything from Him.

In the first healing account that Mark shares in the last few verses of this seventh chapter of his gospel, it was a Greek woman that came to the Lord for the healing of her demon-possessed child. Why did she come to Him? It was because she believed that He could heal and deliver her child. And was it easy for her to meet Jesus and to get Him to heal her child? No! Look at how Mark puts the story:

“Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.” (Mark 7:24-30NIV)

Did you see that? In the first place, Jesus did not want to be seen in that place at all. That means He probably wanted to rest and did not want to be disturbed by anyone. Yet, somehow, this woman found out that He was in town and also located Him. In fact, Matthew tells us in his own account of the same story that the moment the woman found Jesus, she started crying out after Him, asking Him to heal her daughter. But Jesus did not answer her at all. So, she literally followed them to the house they entered in order to get His attention. (Cf. Matt 15:21-28)

Eventually, when this woman got the Lord’s attention, He still did not express any readiness to heal her daughter. Why? His earthly preaching, teaching and healing ministry was to cater for the Jews alone and not for the Gentiles. That was why He did not send His apostles to preach among the gentiles but only among the Jews when He sent them out (Matt 10:5-6).

But this woman that came to Him was a Greek. So, the Lord was not under any ministry obligation to minister to her. And He made that clear to her using some very strong words, words that equated her with dogs. That should have offended her. But she was not offended at all. Instead, she told the Lord that dogs sometimes are fed with exactly what their masters are eating. And seeing the seriousness of our faith and willingness to receive, Jesus was left with no choice but to heal her daughter. So, without leaving where He was and with just one statement, He drove out the demon afflicting the woman’s daughter.

What is this teaching us? It is that if we truly have faith to receive from the Lord, we will not observe any obstacle. Instead, we will find ways to overcome anything that may want to prevent us from receiving from Him. But this is not the case with many who come to God. They don’t come to Him to receive with sufficient seriousness. So, when their faith encounters some challenges, they will turn away and miss what could have been freely theirs.

The second healing story is also worthy of note. But in this case, it was some people that brought a man that was deaf and could hardly talk to the Lord. Why? They believed that He was able to heal him. And did He heal him or not? He did. So, it does not matter whether it is an individual that is demonstrating their faith in the Lord or a group of people, He will attend to them according to their faith. (Cf. Mark 7:31-35)

How, then, did the people respond to all these things that the Lord was doing? As Mark points out to us, even though the Lord, in most cases, would not have anybody publicise what He was doing, the people never stopped talking about His works and giving glory to God. In fact, their testimony was that He had done everything well (Mark 7:37). And that was in sharp contrast to what their religious leaders were saying. They were saying that Jesus was operating by the prince of demons. But the people were saying that He had done everything well.

CONCLUSION
So, the fact that some people or many people do not respect what God is doing in your life and through your life does not mean that you will never find anyone on your side. You may find on your side people who will be true in testifying to the grace of God at work in you. But whether you find people to acknowledge the grace of God in your life or not, don’t ever let whatever anyone says or does discourage you. Instead, labour to be focussed in doing the will of God like Jesus.

QUESTION
In what ways has this study inspired or encouraged you to focus on doing the will of God, even in the face of opposition?

By Johnson O. Lawal

TOPIC: THE FAITH OF ISAAC, JACOB AND JOSEPH | TEXT: HEBREW 11: 20-22 | WEDNESDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE FAITH OF ISAAC, JACOB AND JOSEPH | TEXT: HEBREW 11: 20-22 | WEDNESDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “So, you see, it is impossible to please god without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a god and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NLT)

BACKGROUND

We want to take a step further in our studies in the book of Hebrews where we have been looking at the demonstrations of the faith of some men and women of old. The purpose of their faith was documented for us so that we can as well learn from them. And as we do, our faith in God would be built up. So, see to it that your faith is being built up as we study the faith of some other people of old this evening.

Now this evening, we are going to be looking at the faith of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph as written down for us in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, verse 20 through 22. As we will soon see in this study, something is common with the three of them. And it’s that they demonstrated their faith in God’s promises to Abraham and also passed on the Abrahamic blessings to their children.

ISAAC’S FAITH
Hebrews 11:20(NLT): “It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.” Here in this passage, Isaac blessed his two children at the last moment of his life. This indicates that Isaac who was Abraham’s promised child believed in God’s promises to his father. As we see in scriptures, Abraham blessings were transgenerational. The blessings were to Abraham and his sons. There were some blessings of God that were fulfilled while Abraham was living. But there were some too that weren’t fulfilled but would be fulfilled in years to come.

In any case, Isaac believed those promises of God, as Abraham’s heir and at the same time transferred the blessings to his children by faith. The lessons we are to learn here is to believe God’s promises over our lives, so that we can experience their fulfilment and also communicate it to our children.

Jacob blessings versus Esau blessings
In the text above, we are told that Isaac blessed his two sons. But they were actually not blessed with the same measure. The blessings of the younger by far surpassed those of elder. In fact, Abraham’s blessings were transferred to the younger, not to the elder.

But ideally, the elder was supposed to have the blessings because they were the right of the first born. The eldest lost that right to the younger at some point over a plate of porridge. Of course, a prophecy had gone out ahead of their birth that the elder would serve the younger. God saw into the future what would become of the two children and announced to their parents. This, however, does not mean that God chooses for things to end bad some people and to end well others for others. There is no such thing with God. There is no favouritism with God in that regards.

However, in giving spiritual gifts to people, God gives us diverse kinds of spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:7-11). And He does so as He wills. So, no one can question Him for that. But then, God does not choose people to either end bad or good. That is entirely dependent on us.

Jacob’s blessings
Genesis 27:28-29 (NLT): “From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.”

Esau’s blessings
Genesis 27:39-40 (NLT): “Finally, his father, Isaac, said to him, “You will live away from the richness of the earth, and away from the dew of the heaven above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck.””

As we see in the two accounts above, the blessings of Jacob far outweighed the blessings of his elder brother (Esau). And this was so because Esau didn’t take spiritual matters seriously. Jacob received the blessings of the firstborn over his elder brother because the latter despised it initially when he was younger.

We are warned from the scriptures not to be like Esau. Hebrews 12:16 (NLT): “Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.”

JACOB’S FAITH
Hebrews 11:21 (NLT): “It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.” As we see in this passage, Jacob as well demonstrated faith in blessing the sons of Joseph. The blessings didn’t go to his first son (Reuben) because he was a godless man too like Esau. Instead, his father cursed him towards the end of his life. Genesis 49:3-4 (NLT): “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power. But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer. For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch.”

Did you see that? Instead for Reuben to have the firstborn’s blessings, a part of it went to Joseph’s first two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and the other part went to Judah.

Genesis 48:5 (NLT) “Now I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are.”

Ephraim and Manasseh’s blessings
Genesis 48:15-16 (NLT): “Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked— the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm— may he bless these boys. May they preserve my name and the names of Abraham and Isaac. And may their descendants multiply greatly throughout the earth.”

The two sons of Joseph listed for us here were adopted by Jacob as his sons and the blessings were transferred to them instead of to Reuben and Simeon.

Genesis 48:20 (NLT): “So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: “The people of Israel will use your names when they give a blessing. They will say, ‘May God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way, Jacob put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.”

There was no human reason that Jacob blessed Ephraim above his older brother Manasseh. He was just chosen by God above his brother to receive the double blessing – the right of the first born. So, God appoints us for different things in life. Manasseh too grew up to become great but Ephraim grew to be greater than him.
Another lesson we must learn from Jacob is that he worshiped God to the last hour of his death (Heb. 11:21). This signifies that his faith was from start to finish.

JOSEPH’S FAITH
Hebrews 11:22 (NLT): “It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.”

When Joseph was about to die, he prophesied that the people of Israel would leave Egypt, which signifies that Joseph believed the promises of God to his father Jacob and his grandfather Abraham.

Genesis 48:3-4 (NLT): “Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’”

So, before Jacob died, he told Joseph about the promised land of Canaan that he would later give his descendants as an inheritance. And he believed God’s promise. He was so sure that at some point God would move them out of Egypt into the promised land. So, he commanded them to take his bones along with them whenever they were going.

CONCLUSION
The faith of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph was from start to finish. It, therefore, teaches us that our faith in God must be from start to finish. Secondly, it teaches us to have unwavering faith in God to fulfil all His good promises over our lives, even in the face of contrary circumstances. Though it didn’t look like the people of Israel would ever leave Egypt, when the fullness if time came, God’s promise was fulfilled over their lives. Thirdly, parents must learn to seek the face of God about his plans for their children and trust as God as well to fulfil His good purpose over them. Lastly, when death came knocking at their door they were never afraid to embrace death because they were certain of their final destination after death. They faced death with certainty of their final destination. If we, then, desire to embrace death with the confidence of meeting God and receiving a warm embrace from Him at the final hour of our lives, if Jesus tarries, we must take our walk with Him very seriously until the end of time

By Emmanuel Olarinre

TOPIC: THE USE OF SONGS IN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP | TEXT: 1CHRONICLES 25:1-8 | WEDNESDAY 28TH AUGUST 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE USE OF SONGS IN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP | TEXT: 1CHRONICLES 25:1-8 | WEDNESDAY 28TH AUGUST 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Col 3:16NIV)

BACKGROUND

What are songs? And what roles do they play in Christian worship? To say the fact, many of us believers do not know the proper use of songs in Christian worship. Even many who are preachers do not know the proper use of songs in Christian worship. That, of course, is why they may either give singing an underserved place in their church meetings and personal lives or deny it its deserved place in their church meetings and personal lives. It becomes important, then, that we look into the Scriptures to see the roles God intends songs to play in our individual lives and also in our congregational meetings. Otherwise, we will continue to operate in all kinds of errors in our use of songs. And wherever that is the case, Satan will not be slow at all to employ these errors to injure us and also discredit our testimony in the world.

WHAT ARE SONGS?

What, then, are songs? Songs are composed words that are rendered with melody or (and) music. In other words, songs basically are made up of words and melody or (and) music. We can have melodies or music without words. But those will not be songs. They will just be a composition of good sounds. In order for us to call something a song, it must have words. We may not yet have the right melody or music to go with those words. But without words, there is no song.

WHAT ARE SONGS FOR?

Now what are songs for? Songs, as many of us know, serve different purposes in life. For instance, songs can be used to communicate ideas or ideals. Songs can be used to instruct or teach people things. Songs can also be used to amuse, praise, encourage, warn or insult people. Whether a song, then, will teach, praise, amuse, encourage, admonish or insult people is up to the one composing it.

SONGS AND THE COMPOSER

It is, however, important that we define the relationship between a song and the one who has composed it. Without doubt, the ability to compose songs comes from God. The bible tells us that God, our maker, is the one that gives people songs in the night (Job 35:10). That, notwithstanding, does not mean that every song that people compose or sing has its origin in God. Rather, it means that God is the one that gives people the ability to draw words from their hearts and put them together with melodies or music to form songs.

So then, in order to tell the origin of a song, we have to consider the message it is communicating. And In most cases, the message a song will communicate is a reflection of the beliefs or ideals of the one who composes it. There are, of course, exceptions to this. Sometimes, people compose songs to promote what others believe or to gain others’ acceptance. But in most cases, songs are a reflection of the inner beliefs and ideals of a man.

That means, through the message of a song, we can tell whether the one who has composed it is of God or of the devil. If the person is of God, he will most likely use his song to promote what he knows or believes about God. In the same vein, if the person is of the devil, he will most likely use his song to promote satanic views and ideals. Yes, he may sprinkle his satanic views with godly views and ideals here and there. But fundamentally, if he is of the devil, it is satanic views and ideals that he will continually promote with his songs.

SONGS AND THE SINGER

What about those who sing songs composed by others? What is their relationship with whatever song they sing? Naturally, people sing songs that agree with their faith or view about life. So, if a song does not agree with your faith or view about life, you may not sing it.

But then, there are exceptions to that as well. There are times that people sing songs that don’t even make any sense to them at all. Why? Well, there are times that it is because of their sentiments for the composers or owners of those songs. Then there are also times that it is because they just love the melodies or music that accompanies the involved songs.

In any case, whether your faith or view of life agrees with the song you are singing or not, the fact that you are singing it shows something about where you stand in your heart or what you really believe.

SONGS AND THE CHURCH

Having said all this, how are we to treat songs in the church? Is it even right for us to sing as God’s people? From what we see in Scriptures, it is right for God’s people to sing. In fact, we are instructed in Scriptures to sing. For instance, Paul says this to us in his letter to the Ephesians:

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph 5:19-20NIV)

Can you see that we are commanded here to talk to or to instruct one another using psalms, hymns and spiritual songs? Can you also see that we are told to sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord in the text? That, of course, is not the only place we are told to do this. Also, in his letter to the Colossians, Paul says this:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Col 3:16-17NIV)

Did you see that as well? We are to teach one another as believers using psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. So, it is not wrong for us to sing as God’s people, whether as individuals or collectively in our congregational meetings.

THE USE OF SONGS IN THE CHURCH

But what sort of songs are we to be singing and what place are we to give these songs in our lives and in our church meetings? Those are the questions begging for answers among God’s people. For too long, we have allowed those of the world to set the pace for us in the church in the arena of singing and making music. And that is not supposed to be so. It is not supposed to be so because we have adequate information in Scriptures on this subject. The main reason we are not employing what is taught to us in the Scriptures is that we are lazy, too lazy to settle down and learn the right way to do things from the Spirit of God.

Misconceptions about songs in the church

Therefore, we have been having all kinds of misconceptions among us about songs and their use in Christian worship. For instance, there are those who see singing in the church as a gift of the Spirit. But there is no place in the bible in which we are told that singing is a gift of the Spirit. And that is because it is not a spiritual gift.

Also, we have those who rely on singing and music in their church meetings to be inspired to preach, prophesy, pray or minister the things of God in some way to others. And they often make reference to how Elisha once requested for a musician, that is, one who could play a musical instrument, to make music before him in order to receive a word from God. But we are not told to do that by the Lord Jesus or any of His apostles of old. Instead, as we will soon see, we are told to teach and admonish ourselves with songs. (Cf. 2Kings 3:14-19)

Of course, we cannot rule out the fact that God’s people can be stirred up to pray or use their spiritual gifts through the singing of spiritual songs. That is perfectly in line with Scriptures. But we are not told to wait until we have spiritual songs rendered to us before we begin to pray or do the will of God.

Mind you, when Elisha requested for a musician to make some music for him before receiving a word from the Lord for the kings that had come to him, he did not say in particular what sort of musician should be brought to him. That means he was not at all concerned about the spirituality of that musician. He just wanted someone to make some music to him. Why? It was most likely because he was already in a foul mood because of the presence of the unfaithful and idolatrous king of Israel. So, he wanted some music to calm himself down, so that he could hear from God.

Remember that when King Saul was constantly being put in a foul mood by an evil spirit that was often tormenting him, his men decided to get him a musician to calm him down. Fortunately for him, it was David, an anointed musician, that they got for him. That was why each time he ministered to him in music the evil spirit left him and his mind was restored. (Cf. 1Sam 16:14-23)

But what if David had not been anointed by the Spirit of God at the time? His music would not have helped Saul in any serious way at all. And that is proven by the fact that when Saul eventually became bitter towards him, his music was no longer able to help him whenever he was tormented by that evil spirit. (Cf. 1Sam 18:6-11)

So, Elisha did not request for a musician because he surely needed some music to get into the realm of the spirit. Rather, he did so because he wanted to calm his angry soul down in order to hear God well. And remember also too that we are told to lift up holy hands in prayer without bitterness or anger. Why? The reason is that it is hard to pray well and right when we are in a foul mood. (Cf. 1Tim 2:8)

Another misconception is that we are not to include music in our singing as believers, whether in our church meetings or when we are singing alone. In fact, some have gone as far as saying that it is wrong to clap while singing to God. And the proponents or advocates of these ideas got them from what Paul says to the Ephesians, which they have misrepresented. What does he say to them? He says:

Observe that Paul indeed tells us to make music in our hearts to God here. But is that to say we are not to make music with any musical instrument? No! No, of course, he does not say that we are to use musical instruments to make music to the Lord. But he also does not say that we are not to use them. And that is because his focus is not on whether we use musical instruments in singing to God or not; rather, it is on making sure that our singing comes from the heart and not merely from the head. So, we are free to use musical instruments, if we please. But we must not allow musical instruments to determine the quality of our singing to God or to one another.

This now leads us to another misconception about songs in the church, which is that we cannot properly praise and worship God without musical instruments. Where did that come from? Evidently, it did not come from God. So, it must have come from the devil.

Musical instruments are indeed good in making music to the Lord. Read Psalm 150, and you will see some of the things we can do with musical instruments in praising God. But as I pointed out before, we can do without musical instruments in singing to God and, of course, to ourselves. It is just that, first, our hearts have to be in our singing to Him, as it has to be in every other thing we are doing for Him, and, second, we must be sensible enough to sing in such instances only songs that do well on their own without the accompanying of any musical instrument.

But to choose not to attend a Christian assembly because it does not have up-to-date or state of the art musical instruments is to be nothing but unspiritual. Is everything about Christian worship centered on singing? No!

Also, to borrow or invest church resources unwisely on acquisition or the playing of musical instruments in unspiritual. And some of us know that some churches spend a lot every month not just on acquiring musical instruments but also on paying those who play these instruments. It is unbiblical and unwise to act like that.

What are songs for in the church?

Having dealt with some of the major misconceptions in the church about the use of songs, let us look at their proper use in our worship. And I want us to do that by first reminding you what I said in the beginning about songs. I said songs are composed words that are rendered with melody or (and) music. So, songs have to do with speaking. That, then, means that in the church songs are basically to aid two things in the church and among believers. First, it is to aid any spiritual activity that involves speaking. Second, it is to aid any ministry or gift of the Spirit that involves speaking.

Now what activities in the church or among God’s people involve speaking? Praying, for instance, involves speaking. So, songs can aid prayers. Or let us say our prayers or requests to God can be conveyed through songs. And we find many psalms in the bible that illustrate this. For instance, Psalm 4 begins like this:

“Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.” (Ps 4:1NIV)

Then praising God or giving thanks to Him also involves speaking. And this also can be done using songs. So, we have several psalms of praise or thanksgiving in the bible, just as we have songs of praise and thanksgiving in the bible that were sung by some individuals on certain occasions of their lives. For example, after the host of Egypt had perished in the waters of the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites sang to praise God and proclaim His wondrous deeds for them (Ex 15).

So, songs can aid us in praying to God or in praising Him better and in more enjoyable ways. It all depends on how we handle them. And how are we to handle them? Here, again, is what the bible has to say to us on that:

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name.” (Heb 13:15NIV)

What do we learn from these bible texts? First, it is that our psalms, hymns and songs of praise or thanksgiving to God are to done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we are to sing as men and women that are representing Jesus Christ. So, we must employ seriousness and modesty when singing, as though it were Christ Jesus Himself that were singing.

Second, our hymns, psalms and songs of thanksgiving must come from the heart. So, as I pointed out before, we cannot rely on anything external to determine the quality of our singing to God. That means whether we have musical instruments to accompany our singing or not, our hearts must be fully in singing any time we are singing, for it is God we are singing to bless and not man.

Third, our hymns, psalms and songs of thanksgiving and praise to God must be spiritual. In other words, they must agree with the entire body of truth we are given in Scriptures. That is why Paul, as we see in one of the texts above, tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, as we preach and also sing. So, it is not only preachers that need to have the word of God in them; all of God’s children must also have His word in them. Why? One of the reasons is that they may give Him quality and acceptable worship through their singing.

In 1Corinthians 14, verse 17, Paul says it is possible to give God thanks well enough, even through singing in tongues. That, of course, also suggests or implies that it is possible not to give Him thanks well enough. And we will not give Him thanks or praise well enough, if His word is not dwelling richly in our hearts. You can see why we have all kinds of so-called church songs today that are not at all spiritual. Unfortunately, many of those who sing them don’t care at all. What a shame!

Well, the point being made to us through Scriptures is that though we are free to give thanks to God and praise Him through songs, psalms and hymns, we must do so in a spiritual way. That is the only acceptable way. Otherwise, as Paul says to the Corinthians, we will just be nothing but noise-makers (1Corinthians 31:1).

Then, as I also pointed out before, songs are to aid in the church and among God’s people any spiritual gift or ministry that involves speaking. Now what spiritual gifts or ministries involve speaking in the church or among God’s people? Speaking in tongues, for instance, involves speaking. Truly, those who speak in tongues speak to God and not to men, unless they are able to interpret what they are saying. But since it involves speaking, it means that words spoken in tongues can also be conveyed as songs. That, of course, is why Paul says this to the Corinthians:

“So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.” (1Cor 14:15NIV)

Can you see that those who have gifts of tongues can also sing with their spirits? In other words, they can render those unknown spiritual words in songs. So, songs aid speaking in tongues, making it more appealing to the ears. And whether it is appealing to God as well depends on the heart with which the singer renders it.

Also, prophecy involves speaking. That, then, means that songs can aid prophecy. Or perhaps we should say that we can convey prophecies with songs. For instance, we are told this in 1Chronicles, chapter 25:

“David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals.” (1Chron 25:1NIV)

What were these men set apart for? They were set apart for the ministry of prophesying. Why? Certainly, it was because they had gifts of prophecy. And how were they to prophesy? They were to prophesy in songs and with music. That is why it is said that they were set apart for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. And this is further reported about them in the bible:

“As for Jeduthun, from his sons: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied, using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD.” (1Chron 25:3NIV)

Can you see that these men actually prophesied in songs and with music? But could they not prophesy without music? They could. Why, then, did they have to prophesy in songs and with music? It must be because they knew how to sing and use musical instruments. That means that they were using their natural abilities to aid the use of their spiritual gifts.

How, then, does that help? How does it help to turn prophecies into songs? First, as I pointed out before, turning prophecies to songs will make them more appealing to the ears. Second, turning prophecies into songs will make them easier to memorise and remember. For instance, there are certain truths of life or of the scriptures that have remained with some of us for years. And they have remained with us because they were taught to us in songs. So, each time we sing those songs, we also remember those truths. That is also how it is with prophecies rendered in songs and with music. Once we memorise them, they remain with us for life.

But it is important that we do not lose sight of the aim of using songs and music to convey prophecy. It is to make it pleasant to the ears and easy to memorise. That being the case, the melody and the music are not the main thing, however pleasant they may be to the ears. The main thing is the message of the prophecy that has come to us.

Furthermore, preaching, whether messages of wisdom or messages of knowledge, involves speaking. Therefore, preaching can be done using songs and with music. In other words, those who have teaching gifts in the church can share the truths they have for God’s people using songs accompanied with music. Again, here is what the bible says about that:

What do we see here? We see that we can actually teach, instruct, comfort or warn one another using psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. In fact, we are commanded to be doing it. So, it is not wrong to minister the word of God to others or to our own very selves using songs. We will just be aiding the ministry of preaching through songs and music when we do that. And as it is the case when we use songs and music to aid prophecy, when we use songs to aid preaching, we will be making the message being communicated more appealing to the ears and also easier to memorise and remember.

However, we must also not forget that the message being communicated through our singing is what is important, not the melody and music accompanying it. That, then, means that if an error or a distortion of the word of God is what is being communicated through our songs, those songs should be rejected and not embraced by God’s children, however melodious and sweet they may be to the ears. All of this, of course, is why Paul tells us that we must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom and using psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

Things to note

Now there are few other things for us to note in using songs as God’s people. One of them is that singing to praise and thank God is different from singing to teach, instruct, comfort or warn one another. If we, then, want to praise and thank God, whether individually or collectively, our songs must be songs of praise and songs of thanksgiving. And if what we want to do is to teach, instruct, comfort or warn one another, then, our songs must be ones that will accomplish that.

Unfortunately, in many of our Christian assemblies, we hardly make these distinctions. And we hardly make them because we are ignorant of the proper use of songs in Christian worship. So, someone can claim to be leading us in songs of praise and thanksgiving and end up singing songs that are meant to teach, instruct, comfort or warn us. Yet everybody will take an attitude of soberness, lift up their hands and unconsciously assume that they are praising or thanking God. That is nothing but a show of ignorance. And it must be eliminated in Christian worship.

Another thing to note is that the use of songs to praise God or to instruct God’s people must be done with wisdom. Look again at what Paul says about this:

Did you see that wisdom must be employed in handling this, even when we are doing it in a spiritual way? And how do we employ wisdom in handling this? First, as I pointed out earlier, it is by drawing a clear distinction between songs meant for praising God and those meant to instruct or minister to ourselves. That way, we will not be using our spiritual songs for wrong purposes or in wrong church meetings. And there are actually assemblies that have done well along this line by categorizing their hymns according to the subjects they are addressing. But most assemblies don’t employ the same principle in handling their spiritual songs and psalms. And that should be attended to as well.

Another way to employ wisdom in using songs in Christian worship is to do so in organized ways, especially in our church meetings. In other words, people must minister under supervision. They must not be let loose to do whatever they like. For instance, when some people are asked to lead God’s people in prayer for a specific amount of time and on specific matters, they may use half or more of the time to lead them in singing songs of praise or songs of admonition. That is not a manifestation of wisdom but of disorderliness.

Now we are told to do everything in an orderly manner in the church (1Cor 14:40). So, if what you are scheduled to do is to lead God’s people in prayer, don’t use that time to lead them in singing. And if you must sing at all, lead the people in singing songs that align with the prayer focus before you.

At any rate, what we are saying is that singing in our church meetings must be done under supervision. That way, it can be handled in an organized and orderly way. In other words, someone must take responsibility for how songs are used in our meetings. Otherwise, everybody who thinks they know how to sing may want to hijack our meetings and make them go in the direction that they please. And that will result in disorderliness and confusion. It may even create room for envy or bitterness, where some may begin to think that their singing abilities are not appreciated enough.

But we do not sing in the church to promote people’s singing abilities. Yes, people’s singing abilities may end up being promoted as they sing in their church meetings. But the focus of singing in our church meetings is not to promote anyone’s singing proficiency but to honour God and to edify one another. And to maintain this focus in our various assemblies, we must put those who think or believe they have singing abilities in the church and want to use them under supervisors. These supervisors are to teach them the proper use of songs in the church and to organize them to sing according to the will of God and according to the programmes of each local assembly. That way, people will aim for spirituality and modesty in singing instead of singing and dancing as they please in their church meetings.

Look again at some of the things said about this in 1Chronicles 25:

“All these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of the LORD, with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. Along with their relatives — all of them trained and skilled in music for the LORD-they numbered 288.” (1Chron 25:6-7NIV)

Did you see that? All those ministering in songs during the time of David were put under the supervision of their parents, who, of course, must have been more experienced than them in handling the things of God, in musical matters and in leadership. The same principle must be adopted in all our churches, if we want our singing to be accomplishing the will of God in our meetings.

Another thing that must be noted about singing in the church is that those who will be using songs to minister to us must give themselves to training in musical matters. Anyone can sing to bless God on their own, whether they know how to sing well or not. But when it comes to ministering to God or to God’s people with songs and music in a congregational meeting, those singing must know what they are doing.

In the scripture above, observe that all those who were ministering in songs to the people were said to be trained and skilled in handing music matters. And it is important that we pay attention to this in the church too. See, we must understand that it is not compulsory that anyone uses songs in praising God or in ministering to God’s people in our meetings. We can praise God in our meetings without using songs. We can also minister to God’s people without using songs. Why, then, do we use songs and music in doing these things? We do so to make the rendering of our praises to God or our ministration to His people more appealing and easier to memorise and remember.

Therefore, our singing in church meetings must indeed sound appealing and enjoyable. Otherwise, the purpose of singing will be defeated. Then we may find people being turned off by our singing or not making any effort to learn or memorise our songs. All this is why anyone who wants to be ministering to God or to His people in church meetings must be willing to continually learn to do so in better ways.

CONCLUSION

Songs, as we see in Scriptures, can aid Christian worship in many significant ways. But if God’s people do not understand the biblical use of songs, they will give in to all kinds of worldly ideas in the way they employ songs in their lives and in their church meetings. Then we will begin to see all kinds of evil things accompanying singing amidst us, as it is the case in many Christian assemblies today. And that will dishonor God and discredit our faith.

QUESTIONS

– How important do you think this study is to the body of Christ as a whole?

– What are the dangers of not using songs in biblical ways in our church meetings?

– What is the most important lesson for you in this study?

By Johnson O. Lawal

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 6:1-56 | WEDNESDAY 31ST JULY 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 6:1-56 | WEDNESDAY 31ST JULY 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” (Mark 6:5-6NIV)

BACKGROUND

We want to continue our studies in the gospel of Mark by looking at the things he shares with us in its sixth chapter. Now remember that we learnt a number of things about faith in the Lord Jesus in chapter 5 of the same gospel. We saw in that chapter that through our faith in Him we can have hopeless situations solved in our lives. But in this chapter, the sixth chapter, we are going see that it was not everyone that had the privilege of meeting our Lord Jesus and of being ministered to directly by Him that demonstrated faith in Him. We also see in the chapter that even those who were closest to Him did not always fully trust Him. Yet He did not allow discouragement to set in and prevent Him from carrying on with the work God had sent Him to do. Instead, He was patient with everyone, including the faithless, so that they may be beneficiaries of the fullness of His grace. And He did that so as to leave an example for us of how we are to relate to those who reject us and those misunderstand us because of our devotion to doing the will of God.

A FAITHLESS GENERATION
Now Mark begins this chapter by telling us how difficult it was for Jesus to minister in His own hometown. You know that it is possible for us to read the gospels and assume that it was always an easy thing for Jesus to minister everywhere He went, since He is the Son of God with power. But even though Jesus is the Son of God with power, He is also the Son of Man. And as the Son of Man, He had His full share of whatever any human being may hope to experience here on earth. That being the case, He too had to deal with jealousy, humiliation and rejection. And He had His full of these three things when He came to His hometown. Look at what Mark says about this:

“Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith…” (Mark 6:1-6NIV)

What kind of results did Jesus get when He once came to His hometown to minister? Did He get astonishing results? No! Instead, we are told that the results He got were poor. The results that He got were so poor that He was surprised. In fact, Mark says that He could not do any miracle there, except that He healed a few sick people. But why was that? Was it because He did not minister to the people well? No! Or was it because God’s power had diminished in His life by the time He got to them? No!

Jesus went to His hometown full of the Spirit and power of God as usual. He never went anywhere without the fullness of God in Him. What, then, was the problem? The problem was the lack of faith of the people He was ministering to. And why could they not put their faith in Him? Jealousy and bitterness! All along, they had thought that they knew Jesus, simply because He grew up among them. But when they became acquainted with the spiritual man in Him, they could not handle what they saw. It beat their reasoning that the man they had always known as a carpenter was more than that. He was a teacher of God’s word, a prophet, a healer and a miracle worker. And instead of being happy and grateful to God for making one of their own sons a renowned man of God in the country, they allowed jealousy and bitterness to take over their hearts. So, they despised and rejected Him.

Now, if you cannot despise the gift of a man and still expect that man to allow you to enjoy it, will things not be even worse, if you should despise the gift of God? It certainly will. So, the reason the people in the hometown of our Lord Jesus could not enjoy His ministry as others in several other places had enjoyed it was that they despised Him. By despising Him, they were blocking the flow of God’s from His life to them. And that is something we must keep in mind. If we are going to enjoy the grace of God in anyone’s life, we must not despise them. Instead, we must honour them sincerely. This is especially applicable to those who are close to us, whether as friends, family members, neighbours, colleagues at work or church brethren. We can miss a lot by not treating them with the honour they deserve, simply because we are close to them. Yet those who are not close to them at all will be enjoying all kinds of things from them because they are treating them with utmost regard.

Well, even though those of His hometown despised and rejected Him, the Lord Jesus did not become bitter towards them. He did not get angry with them and curse them. Why? It was because He knew that ignorance was their problem. They were ignorant of the word of God and of His will for their lives. And because they were ignorant of His word, they could not demonstrate true and great faith in Him. Therefore, He went around, teaching them from village to village. And by the time He sent His disciples out with the authority to preach, to heal the sick, to raise the dead and to drive out demons, all kinds of miraculous works began to happen. (Cf. Mark 6:6-13)

All of this is telling us that ministering to people by the Spirit of God requires patience. It is not in every place that our ministry will be immediately accepted and honoured. In fact, there are places that our ministry may not be welcomed at all. But if we are patient in the truth and refuse to pay attention to the humiliation or rejection we may have suffered, God may still be able to open the doors of the hearts of those involved to receive us and His word. Then we may go on to have a great ministry among them. (Cf. 2Tim 2:23-26 & 4:2)

Now, having shared these things with us, Mark moves on tell us something about the impact that the ministry of Jesus had on Herod, even though they did not meet until His last hours here on earth. And what impact did it have on him? Here is what Mark says about that:

“But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”” (Mark 6:16NIV)

What is this telling us? It is telling us that the ministry of Jesus was a constant reminder of Herod’s sin to him. And what sin are we talking about? It was that of the unjust killing of John the Baptist. As Mark briefly shares with us in this chapter, it was Herod that beheaded John the Baptist. Of course, it was not his real intention to do that. But he allowed himself to be used by a woman to kill one whom the Lord had referred to as the greatest of all those born of women (Matt 11:11). Why? It was because John had rebuked him and his wife for being unlawfully married – the woman was the wife of Herod’s brother, Philip.

You can see that those who speak the truth in this world are truly an endangered species. That is because men do not love the truth but hate it. And unless those who speak the truth are protected by God, they will not be safe in this world of darkness. That is because men will do whatever they can to suppress them and the truth they stand for. (Cf. John 3:19-21)

Well, news of Jesus’ ministry constantly troubled Herod and, in fact, made him desire to see him, as Luke shows us in his own parallel account (Luke 9:9). But why did this trouble him? What was the connection between what Jesus was doing and his own guilty conscience? The connection was reincarnation. In other words, Herod thought of Jesus as a reincarnation of John the Baptist, whom he had killed. So, perhaps he feared that he might soon bring God’s judgment on him, especially since signs and wonders were already following his ministry. Or perhaps he wished to appease him for the wrong he had done him in the life he lived before.

Whatever the case was, it is clear that he did not want to meet Jesus because he was repentant. Rather, he wanted to meet him because he was curious to know if he was a reincarnation of John the Baptist indeed or someone else. And was Jesus actually a reincarnation of John the Baptist? Of course, He was not. But this is to show us that the subject of reincarnation is not new. It has been around in the world for a long time. It was, in fact, popular among the Jews of that time as well. That is because, as the disciples pointed out to Jesus, many of them thought of Him as one of the prophets of old that came back to them in a different body (Matt 16:13-14).

But the word of God is very clear about the fact that there is no such thing as reincarnation. His word says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…” (Heb 9:27NIV) Did you see that? Man can only live and die once. After that, he is going to face judgment for the things he has done in the body. So, all the stories that are being told to promote reincarnation are a product of satanic deception and lying wonders. And Satan is doing this to make people think that they have a chance in another life to set their lives right, even if they mess up now. But no such chance exists anywhere. So, if you die in your mess, you have messed up forever.

Herod had enough news about the life-changing impact of the ministry of Jesus. Also, he saw that there was no way righteousness and truth could be killed. Yes, you may supress them for a while. But they will always come out and shine like stars in this world of darkness. In any case, even though Herod saw these things, he did not change his ways. And that again is making it clear to us that unless God makes people alive to Him in their hearts, no amount of miraculous works they witness will do so.

Now Mark closes this chapter by giving us another kind of unbelief, which arises from an unwillingness to consider the works of God and allow them to build up our faith. The word of God, as we see in Scriptures, is what builds the highest type of faith. But our meditation on the works of God can also build our faith. And it will build our faith, if we will consider His works in line with His word. But if we ever come to a point in our lives where we think that it is pointless for us to meditate on God’s works, simply because they appear to be too much for us to handle, our hearts will become dull. And God, at that point, may not be able to reach us with greater revelations of Himself and of His power.

That was exactly what happened to the disciples of our Lord Jesus that had been travelling with Him. Up till this time, they had been keeping in steps with Him by faith. That, of course, was why they witnessed awesome demonstrations of God’s power when they went out to preach. And they even came back reporting to Him all the things they did and saw. (Cf. Mark 6:30-31)

But then, He amazed them yet again with another miracle. And that had to do with the feeding of five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. What made Jesus do this? It was compassion. Look at some of the things Mark says about what happened that day:

“The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five — and two fish.”” (Mark 6:30-38NIV)

Did you observe from the text that Jesus initially had no intention of teaching or ministering to anybody that day? All He had wanted was for His disciples and Him to get away from everybody and eat and rest. But because many people were insistent on seeing Him and learning from Him, He had compassion on them, for they all were like sheep without a shepherd. So, He was a minister of compassion and not of convenience. He was a minister that would minister to men even when He did not have to. And because of His compassion, He also decided not to send the people away without food in their stomachs. That, of course, was what gave birth to the miracle that followed. To the shock of His disciples, by merely giving thanks to God, five loaves of bread and two fish ended up satisfying five thousand people, without counting the women and the children. And they still have left-overs. (Cf. Mark 6:39-44)

Well, two things brought about that miracle and we need to pay attention to them. The first was genuine compassion for people. When we have genuine compassion for others, even if we do not readily have what to meet their needs, God will supply, as long as we put our faith in Him. The second was thanksgiving. As long as we have a thankful heart, God is able to multiply for us what is little and cause it to be more than enough.

Now those were the two things the Lord had expected His disciples to meditate on after that incident, so that they may build their faith by them. But they would not. Why? They allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by the miracle. And that was revealed in what followed, which Mark reports like this:

“Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” (Mark 6:45-52NIV)

Why did Jesus choose that night to walk on the lake to His disciples? It was because the wind was against them. So, it was their benefit that He did it. Yet when He got into the boat with them and calmed the wind, they were too amazed to believe what they had just witnessed. Why did it surprise them that the Lord could walk on the water and even calm the wind? According to Mark, it was because their hearts were hardened. In other words, at that time, they were no longer open to more revelations of God’s power,

What we are saying is that it is possible for us to witness so much of God’s power that we become troubled or upset by it. So, instead of meditating on what God is doing and thanking Him for it, we shut our minds against it and don’t want to consider it anymore. That is when we may start saying to ourselves, “Is it not becoming too much? Will people still take these things as of God and not as of the devil? I don’t even want to think about this anymore.”

That was the condition of those apostles at the time. They were still dealing with the possibility of feeding five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. They were probably asking themselves in the boat, “Who does that? Is this really of God?” Then Jesus came walking towards them on the lake. That actually frightened everything out of them and made them speechless. But thankfully, they did not allow their fear and partial unbelief at the time to make them leave Jesus. They stayed with Him and continued to witness what He was doing until the Spirit of God made everything clear to them.

In like manner, the working of God’s power can actually become too much for our minds to handle. Yes, the working of His power can beat the strength of our faith. And at such times, what we need to do is to meditate more on His works in the light of His word. That way, we will be able to tell that what we are actually witnessing is the power of God and not of the devil.

But the truth is that many of us who call ourselves believers are not given to meditating on God’s power. Yes, we may be saying that we want to witness His power in great ways in our midst and in our land. But if we are not meditating on what Scriptures say about the power of God and its potential, we may become confused or unbelieving when we begin to witness His power at work in our lives or in the lives of others around us. And that may ruin our faith. This, of course, explains why not so much of God’s power is being witnessed by God’s people in many places today.

In any case, as Mark rounds off this chapter of his gospel, he shows us that while the disciples were still wondering if what they were witnessing was genuine or not, many more people were looking for Jesus, so that they may touch Him and be healed of their sicknesses and infirmities. And all those who touched Him were healed. That is telling us that people will always gravitate towards anyone that is demonstrating power, whether divine or satanic. And if we don’t want people going for satanic power, which will further enslave them, we must earnestly desire, pray for and celebrate genuine manifestations of God’s power. (Cf. Mark 6:53-56)

CONCLUSION
Unbelief can manifest itself in different forms. Nevertheless, unbelief is unbelief and will rob us of the manifestation of the power of God in our lives and affairs. If we, then, want to cure our lives of all forms of unbelief, we should be devoted to meditating on God’s word and works.

QUESTIONS
– Awesome manifestations of God’s power can produce unbelief even in the heart of a believer? Explain.
– What is the most important lesson for you in this study?

By Johnson O. Lawal

SERIES: BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TEXT: HEBREWS 11:17-19 | WEDNESDAY 24TH JULY 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

SERIES: BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TEXT: HEBREWS 11:17-19 | WEDNESDAY 24TH JULY 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “So, you see, it is impossible to please god without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a god and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NLT)

BACKGROUND

In our last study in this series, we looked at the account of how Abraham and other patriarchs of faith eagerly looked forward to seeing God’s eternal kingdom and how we as well must learn from them. We must as well have eternity in view everyday of our lives and never allow ourselves to be distracted in any way.

Now, in this evening’s bible study, we want to take a step further into looking at the faith of Abraham. And this time around we want to consider the test of his faith in sacrificing his son Isaac to God, as God had commanded him.

GOD’S COMMAND
“Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” (Genesis 22:1-2NLT)

As we see in this passage, God gave Abraham a clear but difficult instruction to take his son Isaac, whom he loved, to be sacrificed as a burnt offering to him. Does this really make sense at all? If Isaac was just given birth to like every other child, this could perhaps be much easier or make some sense. But Isaac was a promised child. His parent had to wait on God for about 25 years for him to be born. This same child, then, was the one whom God was asking Abraham to sacrifice to Him as a burnt offering, just as he would sacrifice a lamb. Does this really make sense at all? Of course, it doesn’t. But it does make sense to a person of faith like Abraham.

Just to remind us, that was not the first time God was giving Abraham a very difficult instruction to carry out. The instruction given to him in this account to go to a place he would later show him to sacrifice his beloved son was similar to the one he received when God called him to leave his father’s house to a land he would later show him and give him for an inheritance. And we are told that Abraham stepped out in obedience by faith. If Abraham had not been following God and also known the ways of God, there was no way he would have passed the test of his faith in sacrificing his beloved son.

When God called Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son to Him, he had already walked with Him for more than 35 years. The lesson we must learn from this, therefore, is that we must take our walk with God very seriously so we can as well pass the test of our faith. That is because whether we like it or not, our faith as well will at some point be tested. By extension, if we have not proven ourselves to be responsible in the little tasks God has commissioned us to do, He cannot commit bigger responsibilities into our hands.

ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE
“The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.” (Genesis 22:3NLT)

Here we see the response of Abraham to God’s instruction. He didn’t question God. He wasn’t angry with God neither did he disobey God. Instead, the following morning, Abraham simply got up and headed out to the place God would later show him to sacrifice his son. But Abaraham’s obedience was usual. If you want to get to a point in your walk with God where you will demonstrate unusual obedience to His instructions, you must begin to take Him serious in seemingly little things of life.

Well, we are later told in the book of Hebrews why Abraham obeyed God to sacrifice his son to God. Look at the reason:

“Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.” (Hebrews 11:19NLT)

When God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son for him, Abraham thought within himself that God was able to raise him up from the dead. Abraham could only have thought about God raising his son from the dead because he had walked with God for years. Abraham understood the ways and awesomeness of God’s power. So he reckoned that if He asked him to sacrifice his son as a burnt sacrifice, then He must have it in mind to raise him up from the dead. What an incredible level of faith. He had no doubt in him of His capacity and willingness to raise Isaac from the dead. Our faith also must be so nurtured that it will get to that point where we cannot doubt the power and the will of God over anything.

ABRAHAM’S MOTIVATION
“It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.” (Hebrews 11:17NLT)

What motivated Abraham to obey God’s instruction here was his faith in God to raise the dead. He believed God would raise Isaac from the dead because he knew God was a faithful God. Remember that Isaac was a promised child. God promised Abraham a son long before Isaac was born and God had told him as well that he would bless and multiply his descendants through his son Isaac. “…even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”” (Hebrews 11:18NLT)

Well, Abraham believed God is faithful in making all his promises concerning the boy come to fulfilment. So, if He asked him to sacrifice this same son, that must be that He had plans to raise him up from the dead. In the face of contrary situations or circumstances, we must have confident assurance in the faithfulness of God to make good His promises to us.

ABRAHAM’S LOVE
Another thing that motivated Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering to God was his love for God. Although it was not explicitly stated in Genesis or Hebrews that it was because of his love for God that he did what he did. However, sacrificing one’s only beloved son to God without cohesion can only be motivated by love. Our giving or sacrifices to God therefore must be motivated by love, for God loves a cheerful giver,

THE TEST OF ABRAHAM’S FAITH
“It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him…” (Hebrews 11:17NLT)

God’s instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt sacrifice was actually a test of his faith as we have the same account in Genesis chapter 22 verse 1 too. But did Abraham actually sacrifice his son to God or not? We have the answers to the question in the passage below.

“When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”” (Genesis 22:9-11NLT)

Abraham actually sacrificed his son in a sense. But God had to stop him when He saw that he was intentional about his actions. But did Abraham know that God was just testing him and that He wouldn’t allow him to slaughter his son? No, he didn’t. He was intentional about his actions. So, in the mind of God, he actually sacrificed the boy to him and also received him back from the dead. “…And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.” (Hebrews 11:19NLT)

GOD FORBIDS HUMAN SACRIFICES
“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.” (Genesis 22:12-13NLT)

As we can see in this passage, God had to stop Abraham when He saw his intention and was about to slaughter his son, Isaac. This shows us that God forbids human sacrifices. God can never ask anybody to sacrifice another human being. That was why He supplied Abraham the ram for him to use as sacrifice that very day.

THE TEST OF OUR FAITH
In like manner, God tests our faith in different ways. But He will never ask us to offer human sacrifices. Then His test is never to pull us down but to strengthen us. However, we must have the right attitude when our faith is being tested. Apostle James says we should count it a thing of joy when our faith is being put to a test, for it’s meant to build us up (James 1:2-4). What we are saying is that God allows our faith to be tested with certain trials and challenges, as He did with Job and the children of Israel that Moses led out of Egypt. He tested them with the intention of building up their faith.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32NLT)

Now if Satan could ask God for permission to try the Lord’s disciples, he can as well ask for permission from God to test us. But if we have not been taking seriously our walk with God, there is no certainty that we would pass the test of our faith.

CONCLUSION
As we see in the life of Abraham, faith is not a one-time event but a lifetime journey. At different times of his life, his faith was put to the test, even to the point of sacrificing his only son. In the same vein, cchallenges will come to us in this life too. That is inevitable. It’s therefore wise to develop our faith ahead of whatever time these challenges will come to us. And, lastly, we must know that it is possible to have an unshakeable faith as Abraham did in bringing the dead back to life. And as we journey with God and learn from Him, our faith will be built up to believe Him for the extraordinary.

By Emmanuel Olarinre

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 5:1-43 | WEDNESDAY 19TH JUNE 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 5:1-43 | WEDNESDAY 19TH JUNE 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”” (Mark 5:36NIV)

BACKGROUND
In our last study in the gospel of Mark, which was in chapter 4, we saw how important it is for us to relate to the word of God with the right attitude, if His word will accomplish His good purpose in our lives. We also saw how the Lord Jesus showed that He had authority over even the wind and the waves of the sea. And He did this not to show off but to let them know that anyone who believes in Him can use His authority to do the same things and even greater things. But if we allow fear to grip us, we may find ourselves being defeated by challenges that we have authority to walk in victory over.

FAITH DEMONSTRATION
Now, in chapter 5 of this gospel, Mark shares three astonishing testimonies of the ministry of Jesus with us. And he does this to show us the awesomeness of His ministry, the hostility of people towards His ministry, in spite of its awesomeness, and the role of faith in experiencing the power of God. Actually, one will think that, with the awesome demonstration of God’s power that accompanied the ministry of Jesus everywhere He went, people would embrace and cherish Him all the time and in every place. But it was not so at all. And Mark proves this to us through the first testimony he shares in this chapter, the testimony of the deliverance of a mad man.

As the account goes, when Jesus came to the region of the Gerasenes or Gadarenes, He was met by a mad man. And this was a special kind of mad man. Look at what is said about him:

“When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” (Mark 5:2-5NIV)

Can you see that this was a special kind of mad man? How he became mad we would not know. But we do know from the account that his madness was as a result of demonic possession. And we are further shown in the account that he was not possessed by just one demon but by a legion of demons. A legion of the Roman army at the time consisted of 3000 to 6000 soldiers. So, you can see that this man was possessed by at least 3000 demons, judging by human standards. And there are, of course, other passages of the bible that show us that one person can house more than a demon. (Cf. Matt 12:43-45; Luke 8:2)

In any case, we see that his highly possessed mad man lived in the tombs and could not be tamed with anything and by anybody, not even with a chain. That means the demons in him made him super-powerful, so much so that tearing chains apart and breaking irons was like nothing to him. And that would have made him more or less like the Samson of his time. Unfortunately, he could not be likened to Samson at all. That is because though the Spirit of God made Samson super-powerful, He did not destroy his mind in the process. In other words, Samson was a normal man and was able to live a normal life in spite of his unusual physical strength. That is telling us that God’s gifts do not destroy people; rather, they make them better.

But that was not the case with this mad man at all. The demons that possessed him and made him super-powerful also ruined his life in the process. They made him hurt himself in very terrible ways, giving him no rest at all. How horrible his life must have been! And what a menace he must have been to the people in that region!

In any case, deliverance came to him the day he met Jesus. The demons in him, of course, did not want to leave him. They recognised Jesus the moment He came to that place and expressed their concern that He would not judge them before the appointed time. But they had to leave him because Jesus had commanded them to leave. And such is the nature of the authority of the Lord Jesus. It does not matter how many demons are living in someone or afflicting him, one word of command in the name of Jesus was enough to drive all of them out. (Cf. Mark 5:6-10)

But then, we see that these demons, as many as they were, also did not want to leave that area, even though they had to leave that man at Jesus’ command. Why? We are not told in the account. But we do know from other Scriptures that demons need homes to stay. And humans present the most comfortable homes for them to stay in. That explains why all these demons decided to stay in just one person. They just kept inviting more and more of themselves to come and live in him. And if they felt that the chances were high that they would be able to occupy the lives of some other people in that same region, they may want to continue to live there.

Therefore, they begged Jesus not to send them away from the place but into the large herd of pigs that was feeding nearby. Interestingly, the Lord permitted them to do so. Why? We are not given any specific reason for this in the account. But as some theologians would have us believe, perhaps it was because it was against the national laws of the Jews to rear pigs in any part of their land. We may not really know the real reason Jesus did that until we stand before Him to ask Him. But the point is that He permitted those demons to go into the pigs nearby, when they were leaving that mad man. And when they did, the whole herd, about two thousand of them, rushed into the lake there and were drowned. (Cf. Mark 5:10-13)

Now that definitely was an unforgettable experience for all the disciples that were with Jesus and for the people caring for the pigs that witnessed the incident. And first, it tells us that demons can possess, influence or control animals too, especially when men invite them to do so or give them permission to do so. Where that, then, is the case, those animals are bound to behave abnormally and do dangerous things that are beyond their instincts or capabilities. Anyone without Christ or God’s protection, then, may easily become a victim of the activities of such demon-possessed or demon-controlled animals. And there have been all kinds of stories along these lines, stories of people who got into very serious troubles because they brought certain pets into their homes or lives.

Second, it tells us something of how wicked and terrible the demons living in that mad man must have been. They were so wicked that those innocent pigs could not handle their presence in their bodies and around them. So, they chose to perish instead of house them. And there are times that people choose to kill themselves instead of house certain demons that have possessed them. Indeed, it is a terrible thing to be possessed of demons.

At any rate, when those demons left that mad man, he became totally free from their control and got his sanity back. In fact, the people of the place who had known him before were utterly amazed to see him well-dressed and in his right mind. And one would expect that this would make them rejoice and encourage our Lord Jesus to stay and continue to minister to others there that were under demonic oppression. But that was not the case at all. What we see is that they begged Jesus to leave their region.

Why? Were they not happy that the mad man was delivered? It is hard to tell. But even if they were happy about the man’s deliverance, they surely were not happy about the loss of their pigs. That was bad for their business. And they must have felt that there may be more of such losses, if Jesus should stay a little longer in their place. So, they begged Him to leave them. And did He leave or not? He did. But before leaving, He told the healed man, who had wanted to follow Him, to go and tell his family members and anyone else that cared to listen his testimony, how God had been gracious to him. And the man obeyed. (Cf. Mark 5:14-20)

What is the lesson here for us? It is that natural men love darkness instead of light. They may say that they love light and cherish it with their mouths. But when they are confronted with real situations that demand that they choose between darkness and light, they will most certainly choose darkness. The people of the region of Gadarenes chose darkness instead of light. They begged Jesus to leave them because they loved their businesses more than the deliverance that He had brought to them. Don’t we also love our money, our businesses, our fame, our positions and so forth more than the salvation of our souls or the deliverance of others? Where our fame, position or money is standing in the way of our salvation or the salvation of others, are we going to readily and gladly remove them? We know! God also knows!

Now the second testimony that Mark shares in this chapter is that of a woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for twelve long years. Her healing, of course, was a sort of an interruption of the healing of another person’s healing. But it was just too remarkable not to be included in the story of the ministry of our Lord. And that is because it teaches us some very important truths about faith demonstration.

Here is part of the account:

“When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”” (Mark 5:21-30NIV)

It is interesting that while the people of the region of Gerasenes would not want to have Jesus in their place, there were others waiting for Him and wanting to see Him on the other side of the lake. And one of them was a synagogue ruler, named Jairus. This man had come in faith to the Lord, pleading with Him to come and heal his sick daughter of twelve years old. And Jesus followed him.

However, on their way, a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years interrupted his journey. How? This woman, according to the account, had not only been subject to pains and shame that came with her illness, she had also been subject to all kinds of torment from doctors. They just kept on abusing her and taking her money. Yet, instead for her to get better, she only grew worse.

But then, she heard about Jesus and all that He was doing by the power of God. So, having meditated long enough on the ministry of Jesus and the kind of power flowing through Him, she told herself that she only needed to touch him and she would be well. But it was not going to be easy in her condition. She was in pains. So, in order to see Jesus, she would need to be enduring, calculating, sharp and determined. That is on the one hand.

On the other hand, this woman would need to overcome the religious restrictions placed on her. According to the law of Moses, anyone with a continual flow of blood like that remains unclean for as long as the blood continues to flow. Therefore, anyone in contact with such a woman or her things will also become unclean, at least, till the evening of the same day. You can see, then, that if she begins to move around freely, touching people and making them unclean, she risked being stoned to death. (Cf. Lev 15:25-27)

Yet, in the face these obvious hindrances, that woman was determined to take her healing. She was not even going to ask for it, for she may not get chance to do so. Instead, was going to take it. And she did. She took steps corresponding to her faith in the Lord’s ability to heal her, touched His garments and was instantly healed. That, of course, made our Lord, who knew that power had gone out of Him, stop to find out who was responsible. And she eventually came to share her faith testimony. (Cf. Mark 5:21-24)

We learn, then, from this incident that as long as God has made a provision for something, we don’t need anyone’s permission to go for it. We just need to take steps of faith to take it. And even God Himself can’t stop us from taking it, as long as we are acting in faith. Our Lord Jesus could not stop that woman from being healed, for she was acting in faith. And He cannot stop you too from receiving your salvation, deliverance or healing, as long as you go for these things on the basis of faith in Him.

But then, as I pointed out before, what that woman did brought a sudden interruption to the trip of Jesus to Jairus’ house. And only God knows how Jairus must have been feeling when Jesus stopped to look for that woman and to hear her testimony. He knew, of course, that he could not pressure Him to stop what He was doing. But he also knew that things may go worse with his little girl, if Jesus continued to entertain that delay.

Now did things go worse for Jairus’ girl or not? They did. “While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. Look at what Mark tells us about it:

“Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”” (Mark 5:35-36NIV)

Did you see that? That brief interruption made a bad situation get worse for Jairus’ household. His daughter that had been ill died before he could get Jesus to come heal her. And that was not a fiction. That was a real event, one showing us that people who mean well can incidentally prevent God’s goodness from reaching us on time or at all. That woman with the issue of blood meant well for herself. And she probably did not know where Jesus was going at the time. Even if she knew, it was not her intention to stop or delay him. She just wanted to take her healing and disappear. But everything did not go as she had planned it. The Lord found out what she did and decided to wait a little longer to hear her story. Can we, then, freely blame her for allowing Jairus’ little girl to die? No!

Well, when we are dealing with God, which is one of the lessons of this story, we must understand that no interruption or delay is strong enough to prevent Him from answering our prayers or fulfilling His good purpose in our lives. What we need is just to keep on believing in Him. Interruptions, delays and even rejections of men or of the devil may bring fear to our hearts and tell us that it is over or too late. But we must never listen to them. Instead, just as the Lord told Jairus, we must not be afraid but keep on believing.

Those were the words that helped Jairus that day. He had wanted to give up, when he was told not to bother Jesus anymore, seeing that his daughter was already dead. But when the Lord said, “Don’t be afraid; only believe,” he maintained his faith in the face of death. And what eventually happened? He received the reward of his faith, the bringing back to life of his daughter.

If we too will not pay attention to any interruption on our way to receiving from God, even if it is a good interruption, but maintain our faith in Him, we will surely see His glory. And this story also shows us that nobody’s life has to be ruined because God is building up the life of another. That is because God can build up all our lives, regardless of the contradictions of interests and purposes.

CONCLUSION
In closing, we see through the stories in the fifth chapter of this gospel of Mark that our Lord Jesus, by God’s mercy, may step into our situation without our invitation to set us free from whatever has bound us or to lift us up. But it is not every time He does that. There are times we need to turn to Him and ask for His intervention before He does so. And when we do, we must do so in faith, regardless of the obstacles or delays we may encounter. That way, we will fully experience the move of His power on our behalf. But then, we can also choose to take the Lord’s intervention or provisions for us by faith, that is, without waiting for Him to act. That is because He may never act on our behalf where we can actually act for ourselves.

QUESTIONS
– In what ways have the stories in Mark 5 built up your faith in the Lord Jesus?
– What is the most important lesson for you in this study?

By Johnson O. Lawal

TOPIC : BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TEXT: HEBREWS 11:13-16 | WEDNESDAY 29TH MAY 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC : BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TEXT: HEBREWS 11:13-16 | WEDNESDAY 29TH MAY 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

INTRODUCTION

I want to continue from where I left off two months ago on ‘The demonstration of Abraham and Sarah’s faith in having the promised child’. Even though it was impossible for them to have a child because they had already passed child bearing age, God performed a miracle for them. God made alive both Abraham and Sarah’s bodies to conceive after many years of waiting on the promises of God. The faith of Abraham and Sarah teaches us to have unwavering faith in God to change any circumstances of our lives, even if it seems impossible. God’s word to Sarah when she doubted God was: “Is anything too hard for the Lord? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” (Gen 18:14) And this promise came to pass exactly as God had said. If we too will exercise our faith in God, His promises will certainly come to pass in our lives.

A HEAVENLY HOME

“All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God. They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth.” (Heb 11:13)

The heroes of Faith mentioned earlier in this chapter and in the entire chapter, that is, Abraham and Sarah, Noah, Isaac, Jacob and others all died in faith, meaning that they died taking God seriously. They all demonstrated their faith from the beginning until the point of death. They were unlike Judas Iscariot whose faith was not from start to finish. They never at any point abandoned their faith in God. And that is what is called saving faith.

But then, these heroes of faith died in faith, not having received the promises. That means there are certain promises of God to them that they did not receive in their lifetime. And in this study, we are going to be using Abraham as a case study. Let us quickly take a look at God’s promises to him.

God’s Promises To Abraham

– God’s promise to give Abraham the land of Canaan (Gen 12:1).

– God’s promises to make Abraham a father of many nations, to bless and make him famous, to make him a blessing (Gen 12:2).

– God’s promises to bless those who bless him and to curse those who curse him, to bless the families of the earth through him (Gen 12:3).

– God’s promise to give Abraham a son (Gen 15:4).

– The promise of a coming messiah (Gal 3:16).

– God’s promise of His eternal Kingdom (Heb 11:10).

The above listed are the promises of God to Abraham, and he patiently waited to see their fulfilment. However, there were some of them that were not fulfilled during his life time. “Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.” (Heb 6:15) God fulfilled the promise of blessing him and making him great and most importantly the promise of giving him the promised child, Isaac. But all the other promises were not fulfilled during his lifetime but were eventually fulfilled at the right time.

Therefore, the patriarchs of faith, majorly Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, died without receiving the fulfilment of all the promises. But they were men of faith who saw them from a distance what God had promised them and embraced them. They believed the promises of God and anticipated the fulfilment of these promises during their days.

HAVING ETERNITY IN VIEW

“They agreed that they were no more than foreigners and nomads here on earth. And obviously people who talk like that are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had meant the country they came from, they would have found a way to go back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a heavenly city for them.” (Heb 11:13-16)

The heroes of Faith embraced the promise of the eternal God and in response confessed that were pilgrims and nomads here on earth. Even though God had promised Abraham to give him the land of Canaan, his focus was on seeing the kingdom of God, that is, above every earthly momentary benefits. So, he confessed that he was a foreigner on earth.

So, our confession matters. Our confession will tell to a large extent where our focus really is. Apostle Paul says, “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.” (Phil. 3:20) As children of God, we too must see ourselves as citizens of heaven here on this earth. The truth is that we can either be citizens of heaven or citizens of hell. If we are children of God and are walking by faith, we are citizens of heaven. And we must confess that every day. Anybody, no matter our powerful or influential he may be on earth, if he or she does not belong to the family of God, he is a citizen of hell.

Having eternity in view has nothing to do with being rich or poor. It’s not a message of hope to the poor alone. It is as well a message of hope to the rich too. Abraham, as we see in scriptures, was a very rich man, for he was rich in cattle and sheep. But he didn’t let his riches to cloud his judgment of God’s eternal kingdom. His focus was on seeing the heavenly homeland. But it’s a pity today that many people, both Christians and non-Christians, behave as though they could possess this earth forever, whereby, in reality, everything they are seeking to possess is reserved for fire.

CONCLUSION

“But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God. for he has prepared a heavenly city for them.” In like manner, for as many of us who are eagerly waiting to see the kingdom of God, He is not ashamed to identify with us. Rather, he has prepared a glorious city for us. Our lord Jesus said to His disciples: “There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly.” (John 14:2) So, if we will keep our faith in Him from start to the end, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will as well usher us into His kingdom, when He returns to take the saints back home. This is why we must as well learn from Abraham to see ourselves as strangers here on earth and to have eternity in view every day of our lives.

By Emmanuel Olarinre

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER | BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 4:1-35 | WEDNESDAY 15TH MAY 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER | BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 4:1-35 | WEDNESDAY 15TH MAY 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?”” (Mark 4:13NIV)

BACKGROUND
In the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, which we treated in our last study, we saw how Jesus began His public ministry and the events that surrounded this. We also saw how He began to show men that He was authorised by God to teach them and to heal them of all kinds of illnesses and demonic afflictions. We equally saw how disobedience to clear instructions from God can hinder His works among them. So, we need to watch how we relate to His instructions to us, regardless of how excited, desperate or pressured we may be. That is because we are not the only ones our disobedience to His word may affect; it may affect others around us in ways beyond our imaginations as well.

CHAPTER TWO – THE CONTRADICTIONS OF MEN
Now we turn to the second chapter of this gospel to see what Mark has to further say to us about the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. And one thing we see in this chapter is that it was not long at all after Jesus started His ministry that it began to run contrary to the beliefs and opinions of the religious leaders of His people, the Jews. Why was that so? First, it was because He had something they did not have and also knew that He had it. And what was that? Authority!

As Jesus took His ministry from place to place, He consistently demonstrated to everyone that He was authorised by God to do the things He was doing and that He was not afraid of using that authority. You know that it is one thing to have the authority to do something and another thing to have the boldness, the audacity to use that authority. And Jesus had both. So that began to set Him against the religious leaders of the people.

The second thing, as pointed out by Mark in this gospel, that set the ministry of our Lord Jesus contrary to the that of the religious leaders of the Jews was His understanding of the proper use of laws and traditions. For the religious leaders of the Jews, the Laws of Moses and the traditions of the land were one and the same. So, they could be used interchangeably, as occasions demand. Also, for them, the laws of Moses and the traditions of the land must be adhered to strictly and applied the same way without respect for situations. So, when Jesus began to do and teach things that ran contrary to these, they began to have serious issues with Him.

Now Mark gave us a number of instances in which Jesus’ acts and teachings came in conflict with the beliefs of the religious leaders of the land in this second chapter of his gospel, beginning with the healing of a paralytic. As the account goes, certain men had struggled to bring a paralytic before Jesus by making an opening on the roof of the house in which Jesus was teaching people the word of God. And when He saw their faith, He said to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” This, of course, angered the religious leaders of the people there, who believed that it was blasphemous of Him to do so, seeing that it was only God that could forgive sins. (Cf. Mark 2:1-7)

But the Lord showed them on that occasion that not only has God given Him the authority to heal people of their sicknesses but also the authority to forgive people’s sins, since He is man’s representative – the Son of Man. In fact, He made it clear to them that He deliberately made the announcement that the man’s sin was forgiven, so that they would know that He had the authority to do so. That shows us that Jesus was not someone that would do something that He could not defend. If He did something, He did it because He was authorised to do it and also had the boldness to do it and defend it. Do we also function in the same sense? Do we act only and solely on the basis of what God has authorised us to do here on earth? And are we always bold to do what God has authorised us to do in making our world better?

The second instance Mark gives us in this chapter of the conflict between the acts and teachings of our Lord Jesus and those of the religious leaders of the Jews is that of the calling of Levi. Look at it:

“Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”” (Mark 2:13-17NIV)

Did you see that? Jesus would not distant Himself from the people that He was preaching to and seeking to bring back to God. Otherwise, how could He really help them? How could He show that He understood their trials, challenges and difficulties, as they sought to please God, if He would not fellowship with them? But the religious leaders of the Jews were not like that. All they were interested in was placing on the people the heavy loads of their laws and traditions. They had no interest in helping them at all. It is no wonder, then, that they were horrible failures. It is no wonder that most of the people left them to follow and learn from Jesus. (Cf. Matt 23:4)

The third instance given by Mark of the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of the Jews runs from verse 18 through 22 of the second chapter of his gospel. Here he shows us how these religious men went to seek the solidarity of the disciples of John the Baptist in order to tackle Jesus and His teachings and acts. This is to show us that just because we are doing the will of God does not mean that people will receive us or that they will not desperately seek to shame and destroy us. And as we will see all through this gospel, these people never relented at all in confronting and accusing Jesus and also in seeking His destruction. They were after Him till the very moment He was crucified and buried. No wonder the writer of the book of Hebrews says that He endured the contradictions of sinful men and yet did not lose His mind or give up. And we are to follow His example. (Cf. Hebrews 12:3)

Well, what Mark wants us to see is that even those who are enemies can find a common ground to hurt, stop or destroy God’s work, given the right circumstances. And that was what happened to the Pharisees and John the Baptist’s disciples. They were not in agreement when John had not been arrested and was still preaching. But when Jesus became more popular than their sects, they came together to attack Him as one on the issue of fasting.

Now, of course, they did not accuse the Lord of not fasting. But they accused His disciples of not fasting. And to their surprise, instead of making excuses for His disciples, He told them that there was no reason for them to fast at all while He was still with them. “What would such fasting accomplish?” He seemed to ask them. Would it bring them closer to God? Would it give them access to more of the power of God? Because He was with them, God Himself was already with them. And He was with them to make Himself known to them and to also equip them for whatever tasks He needed to give them. Of what use, then, was fasting at that time?

Unfortunately, we still have many believers today who fast as a tradition and never bother to find out if such fasting was accomplishing anything significant in their lives and in their walk with God. Indeed, there are many traditions or rituals that believers give themselves to today that contribute nothing significant to their spiritual growth or usefulness. They do them, anyway, because everybody around them is doing them. But as our Lord Jesus pointed out to those people, walking with Him is like seeking to preserve some new wine. You have to put it in new wineskins, not in old ones. Otherwise, you will mess up things. In other words, you need to have your mind renewed in order to understand and embrace His new way and proper way of serving God.

Finally, in this chapter, Mark shares with us again another incident of conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of the Jews. And this has to do with working on the Sabbath. Was it lawful for any Jew to work on a Sabbath day? No! The Law of Moses is very clear about that. But what really constituted work for them? And why was the Sabbath law given? Well, Jesus answers these questions beautifully in the account given here below:

“One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”” (Mark 2:23-28NIV)

What is happening here? The disciples are going through some fields of grain and picking some heads of grain to eat as they do. And is that work? The fields are not theirs, evidently. And they are not there to work on them as labourers. They are just hungry, as they pass through them, and are permitted by the law to pluck some of the grains and eat, as long they are not harvesting them. But the Pharisees around see that as work and try to challenge Jesus about it.

Now, in answering them, using an incident in the life of David, the Lord draws their attention to one crucial thing they and everyone else ought to know about any kind law given to man. And it is that the law is made for man and not the other way round. In other words, we are not made for any law, but every law is made for us. So, laws must be interpreted to preserve us and not to destroy us. That means even though every righteous law of our land must be observed, wherever it goes against the preservation of people’s lives, it must be reviewed or set aside. (Cf. 1Sam 21:1-6)

Well, in the light of these things, the Lord ends His words to these people by telling them that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. That means He has authority to teach the people what the Sabbath means and how to use it. And that must be the goal of every child of God, which is to know, as the Lord did, that we are not slaves to any law but masters of it. But we don’t show that we are masters of any law given by breaking it; rather, we show that we are masters of it by interpreting and using it correctly.

CONCLUSION
Our Lord Jesus knew what He was authorised by God to do and was bold to do it, even in the face of severe opposition and hostility from those who should have known better. We too must know what we are called, sent and authorised by God to do and be bold to do it, regardless of what opposition we may be faced with. That is how to see the will of God done here on earth, as it is in heaven.

QUESTIONS
– Why did the conflicts Jesus had with the religious leaders of the Jews last throughout the days of His ministry?
– Doing things differently often comes with diverse challenges. What should be the Christian approach to this?

By Johnson O. Lawal

In chapter 2 of Mark’s gospel, which we considered in our last study in the book, we saw how Jesus’ ministry began to run contrary to the beliefs, traditions and practices of the religious leaders of the Jews. And that did not happen because He deliberately wanted to be controversial or troublesome. Rather, it happened because He understood the will of God for mankind and was committed to living it out. So, we must not think that doing the will of God will make us popular with those in our world, even the religious ones among them. It may not make us popular at all. On the contrary, it may invite insults, cursing and all kinds of persecutions into our lives. And if we are not ready to handle this, we may just draw back or run away from doing what God has ordained for us.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – CHAPTER 3
Having said that, let us turn to the third chapter of the gospel to see what Mark has to say to us in it. And there are three main things he seeks to show us in it. First, he seeks to let us see how the religious leaders of the Jews responded to the contradictions of the life and ministry of Jesus to theirs. Second, he seeks to show us what His own family members thought of Him and the works He was doing. Third, he desires to intimate us about the selection of His apostles and why He chose them.

Now, to start with, how did the religious leaders of the Jews respond to the contradictions of the life and ministry of Jesus to theirs? According to Mark, they responded in two ways. First, they began to look for an opportunity to get rid of Him, that is, to kill Him. Look at what Mark says about that:

“Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” (Mark 3:1-6NIV)

What was the reason for the anger of these people towards Jesus? One of them was the fact that He was indiscriminate in doing good to men. He did His good works anytime, anywhere and any day, including Sabbaths. But should it matter when and where we do good works? Has God not created us to do good works? The religious leaders of the Jews seemed not to be concerned about asking and answering these questions among themselves. They were just concerned about their traditions and their narrow and weak interpretation of Scriptures.

So, when they saw that Jesus was determined to do what was good to others, even where it went against their beliefs and traditions, they changed their minds about Him. They would not tolerate Him anymore. Instead, they were going to get rid of Him at all cost. And they did not mind whom they associate with in doing so. So, we see them again forming an alliance with the Herodians of their time to kill Jesus. Naturally, they would have nothing to do with the Herodians, for these ones were in support of the rule of Herod and were also materialistic. But if teaming up with them was going to help them get rid of Jesus, they were willing to do so. We should not be surprised, then, if those who are not friends at all team up to fight us because of our stand for righteousness. It is not a new thing at all.

The second response of the religious leaders of the Jews to the contradictions of Jesus’ life and ministry to theirs was to publicly discredit Him and His good works. Look at how Mark reveals that:

“And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”” (Mark 3:22-30NIV)

Did you see that? In order to make people turn away from Jesus, these Jewish religious leaders began to say that He was healing people and driving out demons by the power of the prince of demons, that is, Satan. And did that work? No! Why? It was because Jesus was quick to show them the folly of their reasoning and allegations. He showed them that there was no way Satan could stand against himself and still continue to succeed in destroying mankind. That means Satan will never set his own captives free. It will, then, take one who has authority and power over him to do so. So, the reason He was able to drive out demons and set people free from the devil was that He had the authority and power to do so.

Furthermore, the Lord warned them of the danger of sinning against the Spirit of God in their attempt to discredit His works. According to Him, all forms of sins of men against God will be forgiven them. But blasphemies against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. Why? It is an eternal sin. In other words, deliberately referring to the Spirit of God as an evil spirit is an eternal sin. And it can only be committed by those who already know Him. Why, then, will they do that, if they have not yet turned their back on Him?

Well, the point is that we need to be careful of what we say when we are angry with God or angry with any of His people. We also need to be careful of what we say when we do not understand the operations of the Spirit of God in the lives of other believers. Otherwise, we may ignorantly or foolishly say what is too much for our mouths against His Spirit. And the consequence may be as terrible as eternal damnation.

Now, turning to Jesus’ own family members, how did they view His ministry? Here is Mark’s word about it:

“Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”” (Mark 3:20-21NIV)

Did Jesus’ family members not believe in Him and in what God had sent Him to do? Not entirely so! As we see in John’s gospel, His mother had some measure of faith in Him. But His brothers and sisters did not know exactly how to place Him or what to make of His works. However, they did not bother Him or speak against him. But when they found out that He was not eating well because of the heavy demands of the people coming to Him, they concluded that He had gone crazy and needed to be brought back home. (Cf. John 1:1-11 & 7:1-5)

This, of course, is showing us that even those close to us can misrepresent us, when we give ourselves utterly to living in the will of God for our lives. They may think we are going too far and need to be checked. And it is indeed possible that we are going too far or even away from the will of God for us. So, we should not dismiss whatever they are saying to us as evil talks or idle words. Instead, we should pause and spend time to verify the consistency of our lives and works with the word of God. Otherwise, we may miss it terribly.

Nonetheless, whether those who are accusing us of missing the will of God for our lives or of going too far in our devotion to Him are right or not, there is one thing we must always let them know. And it is that we will always place God and His kingdom ahead of them, regardless of how close they are to us. That was what Jesus did when His people came to bring Him home. They actually sent some people to Him where He was that day to let Him know that His mother and brethren were waiting for Him outside. But His answer to them was simply this: “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:34-35NIV)

This, of course, brings us to the crux of things, as far as matters of our relationship with the Lord Jesus is concerned. Who will always come first in our lives? God or our husbands, wives, parents, sisters or friends? Whose words will take pre-eminence in our lives, the Lord’s words or the words of our people? And who are we going to stand with? Those doing the will of God or our families and relatives? See, living our lives utterly for the Lord goes beyond what we say with our mouths; our actions must show it. And if we, for any reason, should put any other person ahead of Him in our lives, then, as He has severally told us, we are not fit to be His disciples. (Cf. Luke 14:25-27)

As we see in this chapter of Mark’s gospel, the Lord was ready to place those who were given to doing the will of God ahead of members of His own naturally family, if they would not do the will of God. That, of course, explains why He did not choose any of His brothers as an apostle during His earthly work. Yes, He would later choose James and Jude as apostles. But that was after His resurrection and after they, as others had done, had expressed their faith in Him. (Cf. Mark 6:1-3; 1Cor 15:7; Gal 1:19; Jude 1)

Well, Mark shows us in this chapter that twelve men were chosen by the Lord as His apostles in the early days of His ministry. And none of His blood brothers was among them. Also, none of the religious leaders of the Jews was among them. Why? He did not choose by sight or by feelings. Rather, He chose as He was led by the Spirit. (Cf. Isaiah 11:1-5; Mark 3:13-19)

Now why did He choose these men and designate them as apostles, special messengers? First, He chose them that they might be with Him. In other words, He chose them that they may be witnesses to His life and ministry and that they may learn directly from Him. Second, He chose them that He may send them out as His representatives in preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world. Third, He chose them that they may exercise authority over demons, showing that the activities of these evil beings would soon come to an end.

In the same vein, we too have been called to be witnesses to the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus, even though we are not called to know Him in the flesh. And we have also been called to proclaim His good news and to exercise authority over the devil and his works. But do we know that our call entails these things? And if we do, how seriously do we take our responsibilities?

CONCLUSION
In closing, in Mark’s gospel, chapter 3, we see that doing the will of God will not readily make people love or accept us. On the contrary, it may make them hate us and seek our destruction. Therefore, we should not put our trust in popularity or in men’s acceptance. Otherwise, discouragement may overwhelm our lives, if they should reject or deny us. And that may prevent us from following the Lord from start to finish. Our Lord Jesus remained focussed to the end because He did not function on the basis of men’s approval. He did not even seek the approval of His own family members. On the contrary, we found Him issuing orders to even demons not to give Him any publicity. Why? He did not need man’s or Satan’s testimony about Him to do the will of God. God’s testimony was enough. Man’s testimony could be tainted with lying, greed, pride and other evil things. But God’s testimony is always true and pure. And that was enough for Him. It should also be enough for us.

QUESTIONS
– How should we relate to the contradictions of those close to us to our faith in Christ Jesus?
– What is the most important lesson for you in this study?

By Johnson O. Lawal

In our last study in the gospel of Mark, which was in chapter 3, we saw how Jesus was continually exposed to the contradictions of men. And that was not because He delighted in being controversial; rather, it was because most of the people around Him, including His own family members, were relating to Him according to the flesh and not according to the word of God. If they had been relating to Him according to the word of God, they would have easily seen that He was the Messiah that the word speaks of and would have put their faith in Him. If we too are not going to have ourselves running contrary to our Lord Jesus Christ, we must relate to Him according to the word of God and not according to what we know of His humanity or our personal feelings.

UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM
Now, in the fourth chapter of this gospel, which we have come to in this study, we are shown by Mark what Jesus has to say about the attention we must give to the word of God, if we will ever be a part of God’s kingdom and function as true citizens of that kingdom. According to him, there was a particular day that Jesus spent hours or so using all kinds of parables to teach His hearers what the kingdom of God is like and how things operate in it. This, of course, surprised His disciples. They wondered why He often resorted to using figures of speech and imageries when teaching the people. “Why not go straight to point in dealing with these people?” they must have asked Him.

Well, in answering their question, Jesus says this, as recorded by Mark:

“”The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”” (Mark 4:11-12NIV)

What does this mean? It means that the operation of the kingdom of God among men is a secret. That being the case, it has to be revealed by God Himself before we can know it. Who, then, will this secret be revealed to? It is those who truly believe in God and want to be a part of His kingdom. Is it not those who believe in us and in what we are doing that we often choose to reveal our secrets to and speak to in a plain language? Those who don’t believe in us or who have no interest in listening to us need not to hear us tell them anything plainly. And if we must speak to them at all, we will speak to them in parables or proverbs. So, while we are telling them what they need to hear and know, we are still not telling them anything.

That, of course, is the situation the Lord is addressing in the text above. The secret of the kingdom of God has already been given to His disciples, to those who believe in Him. No, they may not comprehend a whole lot of things about the kingdom of God yet. But they will surely comprehend all that they need to comprehend, for they have a heart that is ready to comprehend.

However, it is not given to those who are unbelieving to comprehend the truths of the kingdom. But since they too are coming to the Lord Jesus to hear Him speak, He will speak the truth they need to hear to them in parables. Why? The reason is to stir their hearts to wholesome thinking. It is to invite them to seek to know and understand what has been given to them in parables or proverbs. And until they understand what is said to them, they cannot profit with it or from it. But will they seek to know and understand how what they have heard is applicable to them or not? Their response, in any case, is what will determine whether God will have something else to say to them or not.

As we see in this chapter of the gospel of Mark, the disciples of the Lord never assumed that they understood a sermon or parable told by the Lord that they did not understand. If they did not understand one, they would meet Him to explain it and show them its relevance to life. That explains why the knowledge of the kingdom was given to them and not to others. If we too want to know God and the operation of His kingdom better and better, we must continually show our eagerness and readiness to know. Otherwise, all the sermons we are listening to and the Scriptures we are reading will not result in spiritual growth and usefulness for us. (Cf. Mark 4:10)

In any case, what were the parables the Lord told on the day we are talking about and how are they applicable to the kingdom of God and those of us who believe? The first parable He told was the parable of a farmer that went out to sow or scatter his seed. Here is it:

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”” (Mark 4:3-8NIV)

Now is this something anyone can relate to or understand? Yes, it is. But how does it apply to me? That is what I should want to know. Unfortunately, none of those in the crowd that day stopped Jesus to ask Him the relevance of this parable to life. Only His disciples came to Him later to ask Him what the parable meant, so that they would know how to apply it. And isn’t that the point of learning? It is. The point of learning is that we may be able to apply what is learnt. But if we do not understand what is taught and see how it applies to life, are we going to be able to apply it? No!

Well, as Mark points out in this chapter, the apostles and the other disciples with them that day later came to meet Jesus to tell them what the parable of the farmer means. And the Lord responded by saying the following to them:

“Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop — thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”” (Mark 4:13-20NIV)

What is the first thing we learn from the explanation the Lord gives for this parable? It is that if we don’t understand it, we cannot understand anything else God has to say to us. And what is the understanding we need to pick from the parable? It is that God’s word is the seed that He uses in reproducing His character and will in people’s lives. Therefore, if our hearts are not right, there is nothing God deposits in us through His word that will change our lives and make them what they ought to be.

Look at the states of hearts mentioned by the Lord in the parable. There is first the heart that does not retain the word of God at all because it does not see any use for it. And there is the heart that is obedient on the outside but hardened inside. Then we have the distracted and polluted heart. None of these kinds of hearts, at any rate, can be fruitful with whatever God deposits in it, regardless of how lovely and grand what He deposits in it is. It is only the heart that retains the word of God and gives no room for any kind of defilement that will be fruitful with whatever God deposits in it, however little that thing may be.

So, we need to focus on the state of our hearts. Yes, we need to focus on the condition that the word of God is meeting our hearts. Otherwise, whatever God says to us can only amount to a waste. All of this is why the Lord goes on to say:

“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you — and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”” (Mark 4:24-25NIV)

What will make you consider carefully what you hear? It is the state of your heart. What will determine the attention you give to what God is saying to you? It is the state of your heart. In any case, the Lord says the measuring bowl you bring is what will be used in measuring out things to you. That means the state of your heart is what will determine what truths will be committed to you. And if your heart is not right at all, even whatever truth you think you now possess will sooner or later be taken away from you.

Can you now see why the Lord says that if we don’t understand this parable, how can we understand any other parable? If we don’t know that our hearts need to be right to receive the word of God and act accordingly, how can we understand anything else God wants to say to us? Why will God Himself even want to bother to say anything to us? If He says anything to us at all, it will be in proverbs. So, even though we can hear Him, we won’t be able to understand what He is saying and profit from it.

Now, as I pointed out before, there are two more parables that the Lord shares with the people that day. And they are given by Mark as follows:

“He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain — first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” (Mark 4:26-34NIV)

Two more parables are shared here by Mark, in addition to the parable of the farmer. But the parables told by the Lord that day were actually more than three, for Mark says, “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand….” So, you can see that His focus in sharing those parables was to stir up the people to understand the will of God. But if they would truly understand what He was saying and be able to apply it, they would need to believe in Him and become His disciples.

At any rate, the two parables shared last in this chapter are told to show us what is going on in God’s kingdom. And we can understand them well by employing the interpretation given by the Lord to the parable of the farmer. The first shows us that as long as the seed of the word of God is being planted on the right soil, we will not need to monitor it to grow and produce results. That is because God has already put in it all the potential it needs to grow and produce results. So, we don’t need to bother whether the word of God will work in our lives or not. All we need is to continually expose ourselves to the word of God, everything He has to say to us about life, and to receive it with a right heart. And God will cause it grow and bring forth fruit in us.

The second parable shows us that however small in number children of the kingdom of God may be, they will still grow to be huge in number. But then, the growth in number of the children of the kingdom can also become unnatural and make room for Satan to freely work among them. Remember that Jesus refers to the birds of the air in the parable of the farmer as Satan. So, as much as it is good for us to experience numerical growth in the kingdom of God or the church, we must also understand that any kind of growth sponsored or promoted by our activities instead of the work of the Spirit will surely make room for Satan and his agents to settle down among us. And is this not the case in many of our Christian assemblies today?

Finally, Mark closes the chapter by telling us of what later happened that same evening after Jesus had dismissed the crowd that came to listen to Him. Look at it:

“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side. “Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”” (Mark 4:35-41NIV)

Who told the disciples to go to the other side of the lake? It was Jesus. Yet they met with trouble on their way there. So, the fact that the Lord is asking us to do something does not mean that we may not encounter challenges while doing it. But we can be sure that He will be with us in handling whatever challenges we are faced with while doing His will, even if our faith is little or totally gone.

Now that is what we see in the incident that Mark closes the fourth chapter of this book with. The disciples, even with Jesus in the boat, encountered a challenge that threatened to take their lives. And from what we see in the account, the Lord had expected them to deal with it in His name. But they were too afraid and unbelieving to do so. So, He got up, rebuked the wind that was contrary to them and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” And the wind and the waves obeyed Him, right before the eyes of everyone with Him.

What did the Lord show those disciples by doing that? It was that the Son of man had authority over nature as well. He had shown them that He had authority over sicknesses, diseases, demons and even wild animals. And in this instance, He was showing them that He had authority over the wind and the waves too. That being the case, they also could exercise authority in His name over any contrary wind or wave that came against them. And just like them, since we also believe in Him, we can too can exercise authority over any contrary wind or wave that comes against us. But are we going to do so? Or are we going to allow fear to cripple our faith?

CONCLUSION
If whatever God intends to do for us, in us or through us will be fruitful and productive, then, our hearts must be right to receive His word. Otherwise, it does not matter how hard He labours over us, it will not amount to anything.

QUESTIONS
– When is the use of parables necessary in communicating divine truths?
– What is the most important lesson for you in this study?

By Johnson O. Lawal

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 3:1-35 | WEDNESDAY 1ST MAY 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 3:1-35 | WEDNESDAY 1ST MAY 2024

MEMORY VERSES: “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” (Mark 3:6NIV)

By Johnson O. Lawal

The second response of the religious leaders of the Jews to the contradictions of Jesus’ life and ministry to theirs was to publicly discredit Him and His good works. Look at how Mark reveals that:

Now, turning to Jesus’ own family members, how did they view His ministry? Here is Mark’s word about it:

QUESTIONS
– How should we relate to the contradictions of those close to us to our faith in Christ Jesus?
– What is the most important lesson for you in this study?

By Johnson O. Lawal

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER TEXT: MARK 2:1-28 |WEDNESDAY 10TH APRIL 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER TEXT: MARK 2:1-28 |WEDNESDAY 10TH APRIL 2024

MEMORY VERSE: “So, you see, it is impossible to please god without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a god and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)“So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28NIV)

By Johnson O. Lawal

TOPIC: BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TEXT: HEBREW 11:11-12 | WEDNESDAY 27TH MARCH 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH | TEXT: HEBREW 11:11-12 | WEDNESDAY 27TH MARCH 2024

MEMORY VERSE: “So, you see, it is impossible to please god without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a god and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

BACKGROUND
I want to continue the series that I started last year on the subject of ‘ Building up our Faith’. If we have not forgotten, I started by sharing with us on ‘Description of Faith’. Hebrews chapter 11:1 says, “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.” In other words, faith is putting our confidence in God to do anything for us. But as much as this definition is true, this is not all we should know about faith. There were people that were commended for their faith in God without having to believe God for any work of miracle. I mean it wasn’t on the basis of their faith in God for the miraculous that they were commended for their faith. That led us to saying that we must have a complete understanding of what faith really is, which is ‘taking God seriously’. And we looked at some examples of people that demonstrated their faith in God simply by taking Him seriously.

For instance, it is said concerning Abel that by faith he offered a more acceptable offering to God than his brother Cain (Heb 11:4). Abel didn’t have faith in God to perform a miracle or to receive one. Rather, he demonstrated his faith in God by simply taking Him seriously. He did this by taking his relationship with God seriously, as opposed to his brother Cain.

“We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was right.” (1 John 3:12)

So, Primarily, God rejected Cain’s offering because he was not living right. And many people’s offerings are being rejected today on that basis too, just to show us that without taking God Seriously our offering means nothing to Him.

“But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

If obedience could be more important than giving God offering, That means obedience to God is more important than every other thing, including the use of our spiritual gifts.

“Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. (Mathew 7:21)

These people described in the Bible passage above as well can be described as men of Faith. But the demonstration of any kind of faith without taking God Seriously could shipwreck our faith.

Another example of someone of old that demonstrated their faith in God was Enoch (Heb. 11:5). Enoch demonstrated his faith in God by working with Him for 300 years. It is said concerning him that he pleased God, walking with Him for 300 years. His faith was from start to finish. He took God seriously from start to finish. And at some point, God took him away alive.

Noah too demonstrated his faith in God by obeying God to build a ship to save his family against the coming flood. All these three examples demonstrated their faith in God simply by taking God Seriously.

ABRAHAM’S FAITH

Another example we are going to be considering in this study is Abraham.

“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.” ( Hebrews 11:8).

Another example of people of Old that demonstrated their faith in God is Abraham (The Father of Faith). Here, the bible says that by faith Abraham obeyed God to leave his home, even though there was no specific location given to him to settle down. The demonstration of Abraham’s Faith here is similar to that of Noah’s faith. In Noah’s case, God instructed him to build an ark to save his family against the coming flood. And it was emphasized that something of such had never happened before. Yet he believed God, even though it was against common reasoning, and acted accordingly.

Abraham as well obeyed God to leave his home, even though he didn’t know where he was going. That was as well against common reasoning. Yet these two men obeyed God. In other words, both of them took God’s instruction seriously, even though it was against common reasoning.

Abraham did not question God, neither was he reluctant to leave Haran because of the revelations of God he had. Even though it was against common sense, he didn’t struggle with God. Our faith in God is strengthened on the basis of His revelation that we have. If we do not have any revelation of God in our spirit, there is no way we can have faith in Him or take him seriously.

The people that do not have the revelation of God cannot understand the things of God because it won’t make sense them.

“But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means.” (1 for 2:14).

This explains why the suffering, death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ could not make sense to unbelievers — they do not have the Spirit of God.

Well, my point is that the revelation of God that Abraham had made him take God for His word and leave for an unknown place, keeping in mind the fact that God would direct him.

“Then the Lord told Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people who had joined his household at Haran—and finally arrived in Canaan.” ( Gen 12:1-5)

How then did Abraham live when he got to the land that God promised him. He lived in the land by faith.

“And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in a tent. And so did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise.” (Heb. 11: 9)

Did you see that? Abraham took God seriously when he reached the land God promised him. He lived by faith there.

“Traveling through Canaan, they came to a place near Shechem and set up camp beside the oak at Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I am going to give this land to your offspring.” And Abram built an altar there to commemorate the Lord’s visit.” (Gen 12:6-7)

“After that, Abram traveled southward and set up camp in the hill country between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar and worshiped the Lord.” (Gen. 12:8)

“This was the place where Abram had built the altar, and there he again worshiped the Lord.” (Gen 13:4)

We can see in these Bible passages that Abraham took God seriously by worshipping Him consistently.

“And a righteous person will live by faith. But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” (Heb. 10:38)

The work of living by faith is a daily work. We must live by faith from start to finish. We must take God seriously from start to finish. Otherwise, our hearts may draw back from God. We must therefore make it our ambition to live by faith on a daily basis. And that is why, as I pointed out before, we need revelations of who He is and what He has in store for us.

“Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.” ( Heb 1:10)

Can you see that Abraham also had a revelation of God’s eternal kingdom? Or else, he wouldn’t be looking forward to seeing it. And this, of course, influenced the way he lived his life.

CONCLUSION

We must as well learn from Abraham to live with eternity in view every day of our lives. None of us has a permanent citizenship here on earth. We are all foreigners and, at some point, we will all leave because the world itself is reserved for destruction. It, therefore, does not make sense to hold tight the things of this earthly realm at the cost of our souls. Rather, we are to set our affections on things above and not on things beneath.

By Emmanuel Olarinre

I want to continue from where I stopped in our last lesson on the subject of building up our Faith. In our last lesson, we studied about Abraham’s faith. If you have not forgotten, there were some key lessons I shared with us. Firstly, when Abraham was called by God to leave his father’s house into a land that he would give him as an inheritance, he obeyed God. Abraham took God seriously without arguing with him. It was said that Abraham left, not knowing where he was going. Abraham trusted God absolutely to give him direction. The main lesson there is to trust God absolutely, when he gives us any assignment to carry out. God may not supply all the detail of the assignment to us because God doesn’t often do that. Yet we need to trust him for guidance as Abraham did, and he will never disappoint us.

See, we can only speak of the challenges we have faced and the challenges we are currently facing at the moment. But we can’t speak of the challenges we may face in the future. If we will trust God, however, he will cause us to overcome all challenges, great or small.

The second lesson I shared with us is that Abraham took God Seriously when he got to the land God promised him. He didn’t throw away his confidence in God, having gotten to the land. The work of living by faith is a daily work. We must live by faith from start to finish. We must take God seriously from start to finish. Otherwise our hearts may draw back from God. We must, therefore, make it our ambition to live by faith on a daily basis.

The third lesson I shared with us has to do with living with eternity in mind. “Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.” (Heb 11:10) Abraham took God seriously because he was looking forward to seeing the revelation of God’s kingdom shown to him – a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. We must as well eagerly look forward to seeing the kingdom of God. That will, of course, influence the way we live our lives. It will make us consciously live by taking God Seriously everyday of our lives.

SARAH AND ABRAHAM’S FAITH
“It was by faith that Sarah together with Abraham was able to have a child, even though they were too old and Sarah was barren. Abraham believed that God would keep his promise. And so a whole nation came from this one man, Abraham, who was too old to have any children —a nation with so many people that like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.” (Heb 11:11-12)

In the passage above, we see that Abraham and Sarah demonstrated their faith in God to have a child even though they were too old to give birth. Abraham believed that God would keep his promise, even though he was too old to have any children, that a Nation came from him. Before God called Abraham to leave his father’s house for a land He would give to him as his inheritance, he was already married to Sarah. But she was barren. “Now Sarai was not able to have any children” (Gen 11:30)

For reasons best known to God, Sarah was barren after marrying Abraham. But interestingly, the first promise God made to Abraham when He called him was that he was going to become the father of many nations. “I will cause you to become the father of a great nation…” ( Gen. 12:2).

This promise must be comforting to both Abraham and Sarah because Abraham was 75 years old and Sarah 65 years old. But 10 years after they arrived Canaan, Sarah grew impatient with God and decided to help God by giving her maid servant, Hagar, to Abraham, so she could have a child through her. Even though that was against the will of God for both of them, their plan worked. And a year later, Hagar had a child for Abraham.

The first lesson to learn from the mistakes of both Abraham and Sarah is that we can act against the will of God and still get result. Abraham and Sarah acted against the will of God and Ishmael was given birth to, even though he was not the promised child.

Secondly, when we act against the will of God, we will at some point face the consequences of doing so. Even though 10 years of waiting on the promises of God is not a joke, that is still not a license to act against the will of God.

THE PROMISED CHILD
13 years after the birth of Ismail, GOD appeared to Abraham to remind him of his promises, even though he was already an old man. He was about 100, years and Sarah was about 90. This time around God gave Abraham a sign of the covenant he had made with him, as a guarantee that he would fulfil his promises. Not only that, God also changed his name and that of his wife too. (Gen. 17:1-16)

God did all these for Abraham and Sarah so as to strengthen their faith in him for his promise of making him become the father of many nations. Abraham responded by faith and circumcised every male in his household to fulfil a part of his covenant. “On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and every other male in his household and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, exactly as God had told him.” (Gen. 17:23)

Paul sheds more light about this in his letter to the Romans, saying:

“That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn’t exist before. When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, Abraham believed him. God had also said, “Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars,” even though such a promise seemed utterly impossible! And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though he knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred and that Sarah, his wife, had never been able to have children. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.” ( Romans 4:17-20)

Against all hope, Abraham believed God to make alive both his old dying body and that of Sarah as well, so he could become the father of many nations. Abraham needed more than one miracle to receive the promised child. Firstly, God had to work in Abraham’s body to make him impregnate his wife Sarah at an old age. There was no way a man of 100 years of age could impregnate a woman without a miracle. Secondly, God had to heal Sarah of barrenness so that she would be able to conceive. Though the cause or causes of are barrenness weren’t stated in Scriptures, God nevertheless healed her of barrenness and she was able to conceive.

Thirdly, God had to give Sarah divine strength to go through natural child labour. Humanly speaking, there was no way a woman of 90 years old could give birth by herself, even if she got pregnant. Sarah needed a miracle for delivery. Otherwise she could have died in the process of delivery.
We also may need series of miracles before the physical manifestation of answers to our prayers become visible. We need to trust him all the way because there is no impossibility with God. There is nothing as too late with God. Until God says, “It’s too late,” it is never late. Such circumstances are definitely subject to change

CONCLUSION
Not all God’s promises to us will come to pass automatically in our lives. We need to express our faith in God before certain promises of His can come to pass in our lives. Until Abraham demonstrated his faith in God, God’s promises couldn’t come to pass in his life. A similar example is Hanah. Until she expressed her faith in God through prayers, she couldn’t conceive or have any child (1Sam 1). The faith of Abraham teaches us to have unwavering faith in God to change any circumstance of our life, even if it seems too impossible. And God’s word to Sarah when she doubted Him was: “Is anything too hard for the Lord? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” (Gen. 18:14)

By Emmanuel Olarinre

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 1:1-45 | WEDNESDAY 20TH MARCH 2024

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

TOPIC: THE GOSPEL OF MARK-CHAPTER BY CHAPTER | TEXT: MARK 1:1-45 | WEDNESDAY 20TH MARCH 2024

MEMORY VERSE: “And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11NIV)